A pianist in London’s St. Pancras International train station got into a dispute with a group of Chinese tourists who demanded that he remove their faces from his livestream.
The situation escalated when police got involved, and the incident has sparked a debate on social media about culture wars and authoritarianism.
The pianist, Brendan Kavanagh, criticized the tourists’ behavior and urged people to consider how the situation would have been different if it had occurred in China.
This is insane. Brendan Kavanagh, a youtuber and pianist was legally playing and filming in a public place.
A group visiting from communist China didn't like it and told him he couldn't film them.
The police were terrible. This is Britain. Not China.pic.twitter.com/xKLmoDgCLC
— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz) January 21, 2024
“We are here filming for Chinese TV, did you film all of us in your cameras?” one woman asked.
“We’re not allowed because we’re for Chinese TV,” she said.
“We’re in a free country. We’re not in Communist China now, you know?” Kavanagh said.
“I’m sorry, this is racist now,” one Chinese man said.
“You’re not obviously used to democracy,” Kavanagh added.
“You’re in a public place,” police informed the group. “If they’re filming, they have the right to do it in a public place.”
The tourists claimed they were filming for Chinese TV, but reports suggest they were merely tourists.
“I think it’s caught the imagination of the world because it’s brought on [concerns about] culture wars, authoritarianism, political correctness, all in one sort of ten-minute encounter,” Kavanagh said.
“All I said was you got a communist flag. You’re telling me what to do. We’re in Britain now.”
“Imagine if myself and some friends had gone over to China, found the piano, started waving around Union Jacks, and started bossing around the Chinese at the piano, telling them what to do, shouting at them and instructing them,” he said.
“Would that have been appropriate behavior on my part? And I think the vast majority of people would say, absolutely not.”
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