Ziguangge's official Sina Weibo page, with a short introduction declaring its status as a Party media outlet.

A Party magazine in China has hit a bad patch after fans of a controversial rapper laughably mistook it for “some kind of shabby restaurant,” with many boycotting the mistaken “food stall” for criticizing their idol’s vulgar songs.

Ziguangge, a magazine initiated in 1993 by the State Organs Work Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has been bombarded with criticism from fans of Chinese rapper PG One after it criticized his lyrics for glorifying drugs, violence, and discrimination against women.

According to fan chat logs circulating online, PG One’s fans have somehow confused the Party media outlet with some kind of shabby restaurant, with many tarring and feathering the magazine by boycotting “Ziguangge food,” fabricating fake news of it “using gutter oil to cook food.”

“Ziguangge sounds like a chain restaurant in my hometown. I don’t understand why such a shabby food stall would like to add trouble to our idol. I say we should collect evidence against it and make the hashtag ‘ZiguanggeGutterOil’ to diss it,” read a comment in the logs.

The fans’ efforts have paid off. As of press time, the hashtag “ZiguanggeGutterOil” garnered over 220 million page views, though beyond PG One fans’ expectation, most of the comments ridiculed their ignorance, calling them a “hateful and brainless mob.”

The Party magazine has been harassed to the point that it posted a self-mocking announcement on Sunday, in which it ridiculed the groundless accusation, calling itself a restaurant that “provides spiritual feast.”

Ziguangge's self-mocking response on Sina Weibo.

The funny response has led to an online frenzy of Party and State media outlets’ self-mocking and sarcasm. Xinhua News Agency reposted Ziguangge’s announcement, calling itself “Xinhua Hotel,” while People’s Daily Online has called itself a “meddlesome civil website.”

Meanwhile, the fans’ reckless move has been hailed by netizens as the “first national joke of 2018,” with many calling for the government to tackle such online defamation and trolls.

“I almost laughed my head off. PG One must be up a creek now thanks to his harebrained fans. It takes courage to diss a Party magazine, let alone make a fool of themselves by mistaking a renowned media outlet for some food stall. Ziguangge is an important Party journal supported by the Central Publicity Department, not a small dingy restaurant,” wrote a netizen.

As of press time, PG One’s controversial songs have been removed from major music sites.