8 Shirtless Men in Africa Proclaim Love for Wang Lei in Video & Kiss His Photo

What’s in a special wish?

Sometimes, birthday wishes and well wishes can become boring if you’re just going to say the same thing every single year – and there are people who hate that.

Well, if your friend likes buff men and was one of the people caught up in the Abercrombie & Fitch Orchard fashion show, this might just be all they could wish for.

Video Of Love

Singaporean livestreamer Wang Lei, who’s a getai singer well known for becoming an online fishmonger and selling seafood products on Facebook, has been receiving love from all over the world, it seems.

He even gained the nickname ‘Mai Yu Ge’, which can be translated to ‘fish selling bro’.

On 13 June, Wang Lei posted a 54-second video on his Facebook page with eight shirtless, buff African men in it, a visual you wouldn’t expect to see if you just visited the page for fish.

The men could be seen holding up a chalkboard that read: “Wishing our idol ‘fish selling bro’ power power for his livestream views, limpeh loves you forever, xoxo, mua.”

Cheesiness oozed out of the screen, even more, when the African men were made to repeat after the person filming behind the camera what was said on the board in Chinese.

All with pronunciation that could rival that of some people here.

Three of the men even took turns to come up to the camera and kiss a photo of Wang Lei, making loud kissing noises that probably won’t leave your mind after hearing them.

Meanwhile, techno music blasted in the background while the other men danced to it like they were at a siamdiu party.

Are They Really Fans?

One may think that Wang Lei’s fish selling antics could have even captured the hearts of men in Africa.

While that may be true, that’s actually not why this particular group made a video especially for him.

Wang Lei wrote that his friend was the one who asked these Africans to do the video for him, expressing his thanks.

He, like many others, was in disbelief that the video was real, and added that after careful inspection of the shape of their mouths and hand gestures, he was sure that it was real.

In fact, there are online services allowing people to pay for African people, be it men or even children, to read out personalised messages in the form of videos.

Vendors operate in Africa, while some even operate from China, a practice that had been in the trade as early as 2015.

Controversy Ridden Service

What problems could possibly arise from asking young children to say just about anything they’re told to say in front of a camera?

That was a question that these vendors overlooked while chasing profits.

The “exploitative” nature of such services was questioned by many over the years, including YouTuber Wode Maya, who expressed his anger and sadness of a video where African children were made to say “I’m a black monster! I have low IQ!”

Previously, listings for these services could be found on Taobao, but the platform decided to remove the vendors providing video and photo advertisements featuring African children in 2017.

Still, listings remain online and the business still thrives, although vendors have said that they will be more careful about what they let the actors say or do in the video if the request is inappropriate.

For 100 yuan, about S$20.70, one could pay for such a video, with additional fees that apply for extra personalised services.

These are usually made for conveying birthday wishes or well wishes.

Other personalised video services are also available online – you can even get Jesus to dance to your favourite song.

Hopefully, there won’t be much fishy business going on.

You can watch the full video here.

Featured Image: Facebook (Wang Lei 王雷)