Utah native Nathan Chen, who has been one of the biggest stories of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing after delivering on the expectation that he would win gold in in the men’s figure skating individual event, is reportedly getting blasted on the Chinese social media site Weibo for being a “traitor.”
According to a story in the New York Post by Elizabeth Karpen, Chen, whose parents met in Beijing (his mother is from the city, according to the story), has been called “too white” and been told to “get out of China” on Weibo, which is China’s equivalent of Twitter.
“It means the world to be able to be here,” Chen is quoted as saying in the story. “My mom grew up in Beijing. … And of course, my dad spent a lot of time in Beijing as well.”
Karpen’s story notes how two other Chinese American athletes at the Games, freestyle skier Eileen Gu and women’s figure skater Zhu Yi, are being treated on Weibo during the Olympics.
Both are competing for China, and Gu has been treated like a national hero after she won gold, while Zhu struggled during competition and has been told to “go back to America” and that she is “too American.”