HONG KONG – If a picture paints a thousand words, a removed picture can say even more.

Controversial Malaysian rapper Namewee on July 21

took down photos he had earlier posted on Facebook

of himself with actor Eric Tsang and singer Kenny Bee.

This came after the two veteran Hong Kong celebrities issued formal apologies for their appearance alongside the rapper, for which they caught flak from Chinese netizens.

Namewee is boycotted on the mainland for his “anti-China stance”, after his songs mocked the country’s leader and nationalistic netizens.

In a fresh Facebook post on the same day the pictures were taken down, Namewee shared his latest song, Letter of Apology .

He cited the lyrics: “I’m now ready to admit my mistakes/ Although it’s just a small issue/ I’m willing to bow down and admit that I’m weak/ And reflect on all my foolish mistakes.”

It was a master stroke: In an instant, he generated free, large-scale publicity for his most recent work, simultaneously putting on display the absurdity of the nationalistic outcry over the photos and the motivation for the artistes’ apologies as implied in his new song.

Namewee’s initial post on July 19 had seemed innocuous enough.

It was just pictures of the celebrities smiling for the camera, with his message in Chinese stating merely “wishing you a successful performance tonight”, ahead of a concert taking place that night in Genting, Malaysia.

It looked and read like an innocent post from any other delighted supporter of Tsang and Bee who had been lucky enough to meet their idols in person.

But it was the Chinese netizens’ outrage over the post, and the pandering apologies it immediately elicited from the Hong Kong artistes who quickly sought to distance themselves from the rapper, that made it news.

And Namewee cleverly capitalised on that to draw attention to his latest song, which – coincidentally or not – touches on a similar topic and had until now gone largely unnoticed elsewhere, especially on the mainland where his works are banned.

With one innocuous post, and then its removal, the singer channelled outcry against him into publicity for his latest satire.

The official music video for Letter of Apology shows the rapper at a press conference –speaking in mainland-accented Chinese – stating his desire to “clarify matters” before breaking down in mock tears, bowing in apparent repentance, and crooning his “apology” to his audience.

A description – in Chinese – of the song on his official YouTube channel reads: “After (issuing) the letter of apology, you will be propelled to fame and riches, arriving at the zenith of your lifetime… Only after writing my letter of apology, will I achieve prosperity! ”

The song satirises the self-criticism and self-censorship demanded by China’s hypersensitive, ultranationalistic keyboard warriors from those public figures who inadvertently offend the lucrative mainland market they cater to.

Its lyrics also hint at the sense of self that some celebrities sacrifice to stay on the right side of their Chinese audiences, with one stanza stating: “Can you accept/ That I can now only voicelessly await my fate/ No more need to wonder/ If I can still call this life my own.”

Taiwan-based Hong Kong political commentator Sang Pu said he found Namewee’s self-censorship of the photos and his subsequent post sharing his music video a “brilliant” move. 

“Namewee’s deletion of the pictures caused them to be more widely circulated,” Mr Sang told The Straits Times. 

“The photos resulted in the apologies from Eric Tsang and Kenny Bee, which then allowed Namewee to publicly juxtapose the two artistes’ letters of repentance against the scenario depicted in his song.” 

“From this, we can see how sharp-witted and humorous Namewee is,” he added.

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Muar-born Namewee, 42, also known as Wee Meng Chee or Huang Mingzhi,

made his name producing songs that poke fun at sensitive political issues

.

He has been blacklisted in China since 2021,

after the release of his ballad single Fragile,

which contains barbed references to President Xi Jinping and issues including the country’s tight censorship .

In 2023, Namewee revealed that he was banned from performing in Hong Kong as well.

Tsang’s July 21 apology on Weibo, while not directly naming Namewee, expressed regret over the “unintentional mistake” of having taken a photo with “a certain person” whose background he had been “unaware of”.

“As a Chinese citizen, I’ve always been committed to safeguarding our country’s dignity and national sentiment,” Tsang wrote in Chinese. “If I had known (his background), I would never have had any contact with him.”

Bee issued an almost-identical apology on his own Weibo account.

Tsang, 72, who has been in the show business since the 1980s, is general manager of Hong Kong’s biggest television broadcaster TVB, which is expanding significantly in mainland China.

Bee, also 72, was lead vocalist of Hong Kong 1970s pop group The Wynners and has in recent years taken on several minor acting gigs produced in mainland China.

The two artistes’ grovelling apologies are just the latest illustration of the pressures that celebrities can face even when they are not major players in the mainland market.

But their eagerness to clarify the matter could also be linked in part to the additional spectre of a national security law over Hong Kong society.

Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after mass anti-government protests in 2019 and early 2020. Hong Kong subsequently introduced its own such legislation in 2024.

The emphasis on national security in the city since then has resulted in its people increasingly policing their opinions made in public.

Under Hong Kong law, sedition can also cover anything that incites “hatred, contempt, dissatisfaction or disaffection” with the authorities.

While it is clear that Tsang and Bee have not contravened any law, appearing to be aligned with Namewee whose work mocks China – however tenuous the link – could still potentially cause a rift not just with their mainland business partners and supporters, but also among those in Hong Kong.

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Ultimately, though, the artistes’ main motivation for their apology is essentially “greed”, according to Mr Sang.

“The reason (Tsang and Bee) allowed themselves to be controlled by their entertainment companies and to publish the formal apologies scripted for them, is because of the money they still hope to make off their mainland audiences,” he said.

“This is a choice they must make: Would they prefer to eat standing (by their own principles), or do they want to eat on their knees (at the mercy of others).”