At least he’s smoking less.
A Queens man claims he went crazy after a city Chinese newspaper used a picture of him smoking for an article on tuberculosis in the Asian community.
After the image of Lee Wai Wong puffing away on the street ran in the World Journal’s March 25 edition, friends began asking about his health, prompting him to have a litany of symptoms including nightmares, cold sweats, paranoia, insomnia, chest pains, headaches and “fear to go outside and smoke anymore,” he claims in court papers.
“All these symptoms were caused by the publication of [Wong’s] smoking picture,” he charges in a Queens Supreme Court suit against the paper.
“After [Wong] was put on [sic] the newspaper, he did not feel the same anymore, and he thought he was losing his mind,” the lawsuit claims.
Wong wants $7 million in damages because, he says, “he was linked to the Asian tuberculosis patients although he is healthy and has nothing to do with tuberculosis.”
The Flushing resident was identified by name in the article, although it’s unclear if the paper claimed he had the disease.
The World Journal did not respond to a message seeking comment.