China backlash as British pianist at centre of ‘unauthorised filming’ storm at busy London railway station accused of ‘setting a trap’
- Pianist sees number of online followers rocket as result of altercation
- People on mainland accuse piano man of exploiting ideological differences between East and West to portray himself as hero
A British pianist who went viral globally after he was involved in a war of words over unauthorised filming involving a group of Chinese people in a London railway station is facing a backlash on mainland social media.
The confrontation erupted in the British capital’s St Pancras railway station on January 19, when a group of people from China asked Brendan Kavanagh to stop filming a live-streaming performance in which his cameras caught them in the background.
The group from China said he was infringing on their privacy by capturing them on film and an altercation – which was good-natured at first – quickly descended into accusations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
The China group explained they were working on a TV project for which they were contractually obliged not to show any pictures of at the time Kavanagh’s live-streaming event was running.
The pianist has insisted that he had every right to film in a public place under English law and if people were unhappy about it, they should simply have moved away.
