A British musician who got into a heated confrontation with Chinese nationals in a viral video spoke out about being shocked by the "authoritarianism" in their tone of speech.
Brendan Kavanagh, a British pianist with 2.2 million followers on YouTube (@DrKBoogieWoogie), was live-streaming a public performance of his piano riffs when the group of Chinese nationals was incidentally captured in the background. The Chinese nationals asked him not to record them, insisting he did not have the right to share their images online.
Kavanagh refused and that's when things got heated. The fight ultimately ended with threats of legal action and the police getting involved to deescalate.
Kavanagh told Fox News Digital in an interview that the clash at St. Pancras train station in London showcased "a clash of cultures," which is why he thinks it "caught the imagination of the world."
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"So, basically, the problem started when I disagreed with the ‘shouty guy.’ And then he started acting in a very peculiar manner," Kavanagh told Fox News Digital. "They all had communist flags (the Chinese flag). And I said, ‘Are you communist?’ And… that was gasoline to the fire. He was prevaricating."
Kavanagh said he then tried to gesture towards one of the women who was holding the Chinese flag in the U.K. station.
"I put my hand down to take it because I wanted to get the flag to show it to the camera. I put my hand down like you would just say, give me the flag. And then he said, 'Don't touch her.' Basically, [in my view] he tries to make out [that I was doing] some kind of assault."
Kavanagh said he thought the "shouty guy" wanted a testy response, but he didn't give in.
"I didn't give him the reaction he wanted. He's not used to, kind of, cool, calm Western reaction, but I think he wanted me to sort of go into hysterics. I just thought the guy was ridiculous," he said.
"I don't think I can go to China in the near future," he told Fox News Digital, quipping he might end up in a "gulag." "But it raised so many serious issues. I think it's caught the imagination of the world."
One of the interesting parts about the interaction is how they "tried to play the race card," he said.
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"He was waving a communist flag. I thought it was reasonable to ask, are you from China? He said, 'You can't ask that. That's racist.' And then that was basically it," Kavanagh said. "The authoritarianism, the entitlement, the whole aspect, [was] the whole theme of their response to me… They were saying to me, 'It's my right. It's not your right, it's my right.'"
He continued, "They were constantly telling me what they were allowed to do, which I thought ironic, and they were constantly telling me what I was not allowed to do. And I thought, come on, for goodness sake, you are here shouting at me."
Kavanagh said the incident is a stark example of the differences of values between the West and Communist China.
"So I think the authoritarianism [stood out]. The paradox of this situation is that they enjoy [being] here in the West, but they retain the authoritarian mentality of the Communist Party. And they brought up the St. Pancras station," he said. "So their mindset was firmly based in China, and it did not work on me. And I think the whole world, the whole free world has shown them up for what they were, it's badly backfired on them."
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The musician said he learned a lot from the incident.
"They were the ones being aggressive, but they were painting themselves as the victim. So it is classic gaslighting. The whole communist system is narcissistic, perhaps. We could do some psychoanalysis on that, you know? … It gave me an insight."
"I'm glad I'm not in China," he added.
