Who would’ve thought that a seemingly innocent cooking show like Go Fridge (the Chinese version of South Korean variety show Please Take Care of My Refrigerator) could cause such controversy?

In a recent episode, the cast members were tasked with attempting to make Chinese comedian Li Xueqin laugh while wearing a rubber horse head mask.

We guess GOT7’s Jackson Wang really, really wanted to win ‘cos he went all out by getting down on all fours. Chinese actor Vin Zhang Bin Bin then joined in by climbing on the Hongkong star’s back to, um, ‘ride’ him.

To add to the drama, Vin grabbed a piece of red cloth and started whipping Jackson’s butt to make him go faster, as the latter gamely ‘galloped’ across the floor.

After horsing around for a while, Vin tossed the red cloth to one side and ordered Jackson to pick it up, but he couldn’t see properly through the mask and could only look around helplessly.

While this was all clearly done for a bit of cheeky but harmless fun, many viewers, especially fans of Jackson, did not see it that way.

Many complained about the “disrespectful and degrading” treatment of the 27-year-old, claiming that this display has “severely damaged Jackson’s image”.

“The design of the show is inherently problematic. The fact that they prepared a horse head mask shows that they originally intended for a person to be ridden like a horse,” a netizen remarked, while another sighed, “Why has this show become like this?”

Enraged fans also called the production team of Go Fridge “sick” and demanded that they delete the clip and apologise immediately. The phrase “Jackson Wang was ridden like a horse on a show” even became a trending topic on social media.

On the other hand, there were those who pointed out that it was all Jackson’s idea to begin with, and that it had nothing to do with the production team.

Sure enough, the episode shows Jackson proposing the game after stumbling across the horse head mask. When another guest, Chinese host Chen Ziming, suggested that Jackson ride him instead, Jackson just laughed and said, “It’s okay, it’s just for fun.”

While the clip has since been taken down, the Go Fridge production team has yet to issue an apology or release a statement about the matter.

Photos: Jackson Wang/Weibo, 吃瓜老衲/Weibo, Go Fridge/Weibo