I thought Massi-gate would be over once he and his team went off to Japan, give or take an official press statement on nuclear waste at Fukushima. But no. Still angry about Massi’s non-performance in Hong Kong, the SCMP’s Yonden Lhatoo thunders…
…He sat it out on the bench the entire time, all petulant in pink like some unhappy flamingo – we might as well have been looking at a pouty little ballerina in a tutu throwing a childish sulking fit.
Even if his purported hamstring injury rendered him unable to play – unlikely, because he was on the pitch the previous day for a practice run looking perfectly capable – or even if his minders did not want to risk exacerbating his injury, would it have killed them to at least have their precious princess wave at the crowd, perhaps even say a few words to them?
Not only that, he even refused an invitation from his hosts to give away the trophy after the match and skulked at the back to avoid shaking hands with Hong Kong’s leader and his top officials who were all left red-faced at the scene.
Regina Ip joins in…
Hong Kong people hate Messi, Inter-Miami, and the black hand behind them, for the deliberate and calculated snub to Hong Kong.
Messi should never be allowed to return to Hong Kong. His lies and hypocrisy are disgusting.
Petulant in pink, red faced, black hands, shaking hands (not)? Comments on Regina’s post and elsewhere suggest that the criticism of the soccer star has actually won him some new fans From one…
Is Hong Kong mulling a $1 million bounty on Messi’s head for ‘hurting the feelings of 1.47 billion Chinese people’..?
Speaking of non-performances – the Standard’s editorial on the cancellation of Accidental Death of an Anarchist at the APA…
The last-minute removal of absurdist satire Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Academy for Performing Arts management has deepened concerns about overkill that rose to the surface when certain books began disappearing one after another from the shelves of public and school libraries last year.
As with books by leading modern Chinese writer Lu Xun – as well as George Orwell’s darkly satirical Animal Farm – Italian playwright Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist was suddenly axed to death.
This is despite the playwright bring named Nobel Laureate in 1997 for his body of work.
…It would be very ironic if it were due to the same degree of stupidity seen in the cases of Lu Xun and Orwell.
…If its performance was deemed acceptable in Hong Kong and the mainland in the past, why is it not acceptable now at a time the SAR is supposed to have grown to be even more confident and prosperous under the “new normal” environment?
Or perhaps not ironic at all.
More NatSec drama here…
Hong Kong performing arts group Fire Makes Us Human has announced it will suspend operations, after a school venue it planned to use for two forthcoming productions was pulled following government pressure.
…The [Education] bureau had allegedly received reports concerning “inappropriate remarks” made by the group founder Alex Tong on “controversial and sensitive issues.” Neither the school nor the bureau would reveal what the reported complaints related to.
One wonders if the booing would have been more restrained had certain HKSARG officials not been standing on the pitch. A rare chance to let loose at the so-called leadership without fear of reprisal.
Someone should tell Lhatoo that calling a man a “princess” is both sexist and childish. As for Regina’s rant, seeing a “black hand” at work in what looks more like a cock-up than a conspiracy suggests an advanced case of unwarranted paranoia.
Wonton Wahoo: “we might as well have been looking at a pouty little ballerina in a tutu throwing a childish sulking fit” and “would it have killed them to at least have their precious princess wave at the crowd…”
THIS…is precisely why HK is not, despite all it’s self proclaimed “Asia’s World City” bullshit, an LGBT++ friendly city (including all the foot dragging on the “Gay Games”) and truly behind the times trying to attract the “pink dollar” tourism money from that crowd, which has a LOT of disposable income. Talk about shooting yourself in the feet and with the complicity of the so-called media as well.
I would like to comment on the Messi affair, but as it may be deemed retroactively a controversial and sensitive topic, and my observations on the subject may retroactively be deemed inappropriate, I shall demur.
For the record, freedom of speech is unimpaired in the New Hong Kong.
@low profile
For a man who was widely known around the office as ‘Queen Yonden’ he should perhaps know better
(A nickname used by members of senior management as well)
@Chinese Netizen
I am delighted that the authorities here are purposely ignoring the pink-dollar brigade. Many of us are sick to death of identity politics and the nonsense that surrounds it, particularly its key weapon, ‘cancel culture’. If people anywhere feel the need to prance about, they should head to Sydney or San Francisco for a week or two and get it out of their systems, or better still consider emigrating to either place.
Thanks for that video link. Top tune and a great choice. I think we can safely say that the M events concept has pretty much been killed off as far as any international participation.
@Reactor #4,
One “emigrates from” and “immigrates to”. Next time, think “e-f”, emigrate from, and you’ll be fine.
As for the rest of your comment, I agree 100%.
@Webster
You have that back to front. We emigrated to Australia. One the way there, we were emigrants. Once there, we had immigrated from England, and were immigrants.
Nobel prizes mean nothing and everything to the bosses up north, just ask Liu Xiaobo
@Oxford
Sorry, you emigrated from Old Blighty and immigrated to The Lucky Country.
“You can look it up.”
Rod Stewart just cancelled. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
As usual, the Rectum 4 missed the point. To be expected.
So how did Jimmy manage to organize a hurt the feelings of 1.4b from his solitary cell at Stanley????