Simon Yam Accused By Mainland Chinese Netizens Of Switching To Canadian Citizenship ‘Cos Of His Maple Leaf Cap

Hong Kong actor Simon Yam, 69, recently found himself in the centre of controversy after this selfie he took with a fan at the Xiamen airport made the rounds online.

The reason?

He was wearing a cap with a maple leaf design.

Apparently, sporting anything maple leaf means you are Canadian, and Mainland Chinese netizens speculated that Simon had secretly switched to Canadian nationality.

Ridiculous, we know.

Simon was also accused of changing nationalities while continuing to earn a living in China.

There were some rational voices that argued that nationality has no impact on Simon’s acting skills and criticised netizens for overreacting.

We think this netizen said it best with this comment: “Wearing a cap with a maple leaf design means changing nationality? Even if someone wears Chinese brands from head to toe, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re patriotic. Don’t be so sensitive! Even if he did change his nationality, it’s not something he needs to explain.”

And he didn't. However, Simon later appeared to have swapped the cap to avoid further misunderstanding.