“Because Qui Shaoyun lay in the fire without moving, consumers refused to pay for meat grilled on just one side,” he wrote. “They preferred the barbecued meat of Lai Ning.”

Lai Ning was another martyr, declared a “heroic youth” by the Communist Youth League because in 1988, at the age of 14, he was said to have fought a mountain conflagration for hours until he, too, burned to death.

Within hours, Mr. Sun, who publishes on Weibo under the name Zuoyeben, or Exercise Book, deleted his post, but it had already gone viral. Then, last year, the issue re-emerged, when an herbal drink producer, Jiaduobao, posted an appeal to Mr. Sun, saying, given his barbecue fame, “We support you becoming the C.E.O. of a barbecue shop,” and offering to supply the store with 100,000 cans of herbal tea.

Mr. Sun replied: “Thank you. I’ll certainly open a barbecue shop. But I haven’t decided when. Anyone who leaves a comment here can drink it for free.”

Commenters were quick to make the connection with Mr. Sun’s earlier joke about national heroes as grilled meat, and some vowed to boycott Jiaduobao. The company, which is based in Hong Kong, quickly said that it was unaware of that joke and that it had asked many celebrities to promote its products. Mr. Sun published his own apology, saying his original remarks were inappropriate.