Actress Eleanor Lee denies making derogatory comments about Chinese people

Home-grown actress Eleanor Lee has broken her silence on an online storm related to the release of an audio recording, denying that she had made derogatory comments about people in China.

- Lim Ruey Yan

"I'm sorry to have caused so much controversy and taken up public resources," the 25-year-old China-based star wrote on her social media platforms, including Weibo, Instagram and Facebook, on May 10.

"I was very shocked when I heard the recording. This was definitely not what I said."

The furore began when a netizen claiming to be Lee's former assistant released in April a poor-quality audio recording that lasted about 30 seconds on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

In the recording, which features a lot of background noise and some muffled words, a woman is heard saying she is "doing this not for fame, but for money" and that "most people in China are idiots".

It is not confirmed if it is Lee's voice in the clip. The incident gained traction after the media in China and Taiwan reported on it in the past few days.