
Earlier while speaking to a daily, Chang revealed, that two motorists had called him corona while he was on his morning jog. "I go for a jog every day near my house in Mumbai. The other day, two guys sped past me on a bike, screaming ‘corona’ and laughing. I wanted to scream back and hurl the choicest of gaalis, but I didn’t see any point in it. How do you punish people for their stupidity or ignorance? Over the years, I have become used to these comments and yes, they are hurtful. I try to move on and be optimistic, but it does affect you."
The singer, who came fifth in 'Indian Idol 3', stated that he is okay taking jokes from friends but not others. "I have been called Chinese, Chinki and Nepali in the past. I feel that as a country, we are casually racist, be it on the basis of colour, caste, or ethnicity. Of late, my friends have been teasing me saying, ‘Chang se door raho’. Of course, I know that they don’t mean any harm and there’s no ulterior motive; it’s all in good fun. Trouble starts when random people do it with malicious intent. Just a few days ago, I had complimented a friend on Instagram, but a few guys who had nothing to do with me or her, called me ‘coronavirus’ in the comments section. I took a screenshot of those comments, blurred their names as I don’t believe in public shaming, and shared it on my page. Later, they apologised to me and I let it pass,” Meiyang added.
Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, several people of North-East have been complaining of facing racial discrimination in metropolitan cities of India. A day earlier a Manipuri student was spat on in Delhi and called 'corona'.
Chang is a third-generation Indian-Chinese and was born in Dhanbad, Bihar.