By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
LONDON (Worthy News) – A British pianist who has more than two million subscribers on the YouTube video-sharing site has been accosted by a furious Chinese television crew and Chinese tourists.
Brendan Kavanaugh, known as ‘Dr. K’ was livestreaming himself playing boogie woogie on a piano at London’s St Pancras station when a group he called “Chinese Communist Party members” asked him to stop filming them and delete the video.
The bizarre confrontation, viewed by a Worthy News reporter, erupted as hundreds of viewers watched on YouTube, leading to police being called to defuse the situation.
A woman asked: ‘We’re here for Chinese TV — did you film all of us with your cameras?’
When Kavanaugh responded by telling the group that he was filming a livestream, the woman asked him to delete the footage as they didn’t permit him to film it.
A man with the group then stepped in. He told Kavanaugh, “basically, it would be much appreciated when whatever you’re doing that you don’t put our face on TV.”
‘WE ARE IN BRITAIN’
Kavanaugh then wondered: “So what will happen?” to which the man replied: “Just don’t do it, please.”
The pianist told him, “We are in Great Britain, not China,” and accused the man and his supporters of being agents of the Chinese Communist Party.
The standoff further escalated after Kavanaugh tried to touch one of the women’s “Chinese Communist flags,” with the man shouting: “Don’t touch her!”
He was then forced to explain himself to British police who, after some convincing, shared his opinion that anyone can be filmed in a public area, the footage showed.
The tensions underscored broader concerns about Communist-run China’s growing influence in Europe and elsewhere.
“This is also about freedom of music,” Kavanaugh said late Tuesday.
PIANO LOCKED
He expressed sadness that St Pancras station had decided to close the piano following the row, which has since been viewed millions of times.
“Two guards are now surrounding the piano, which was once gifted by [Britain’s pop star] Elton John and still carries his signature,” Kavanaugh added.
After the tense standoff, one of the women involved defended their actions, saying on Chinese social media that the group was there to film Chinese New Year’s greetings.
The group was there for a company, and she explained that due to “a non-disclosure agreement” they had signed, none of the footage they created could be released.
Yet Kavanaugh suggested his video revealed a British-Chinese battle about free thinking and free music.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, seems increasingly impatient with those seen as violating the Chinese Communist Party line, including devoted Christians and, now, a middle-aged dark-glasses-wearing pianist.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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