TAIPEI – Taiwanese rapper MC HotDog said he will no longer perform one of his songs after the death of Hong Kong-American singer Coco Lee.

MC HotDog, whose real name is Yao Chung-jen, said at his recent concert that he had wanted to post a tribute to the pop diva after he learnt of her death.

Lee, who had battled depression, died at the age of 48 on July 5. Her funeral was held on Tuesday.

MC HotDog said he was concerned, however, that someone might dig up one of his old songs to criticise him if he had written the post.

The 45-year-old was referring to his 2001 song Korean Wave Invasion, in which he expressed his resentment about the popularity of South Korean artistes in Taiwan.

The song also took aim at then popular artistes such as K-pop groups H.O.T. and Clon, J-pop singer Hikaru Utada and Mandopop singers Lee, A-mei and Yuki Hsu, with the use of expletives after the lyrics “Yuki, A-mei, Coco Lee”.

MC Hotdog said at the recent concert that he slammed those popular singers in the song even though he had no feud with them, explaining that he was cynical and hot-headed when he was younger.

He said he met Lee during Chinese reality show The Rap Of China in 2022, when he was one of the mentors and she a special guest.

He conveyed his apology to her in person over the song, explaining that he was young when he performed it more than 20 years ago.

He recounted that Lee told him not to take it to heart, as it happened a long time ago.

Hence, the rapper said on stage that he would no longer perform the song either in public or in private as a sign of respect to the late singer.