David Beckham Controversial Tweet Leaves Chinese Upset

David Beckham angered Hong Kong fans after lumping their city in with China — then infuriated Chinese mainlanders when he attempted to fix his major faux pas. David Beckham’s controversial tweet left Chinese fans upset after a trip to Hong Kong last week.

David Beckham should update his History lessons

The English footballer is in a hot mess after a Facebook and Twitter post in which he referred to Hong Kong as China. Beckham uploaded a video of his visit to Hong Kong as part of being the new global ambassador for a Hong Kong promoting insurance firm AIA. Beckham captioned the video, “Great 48 hours in China” prompting online users to point out his mistake.

Many of his fans requested him to change his caption to “great 48 hours in Hong Kong,” instead of China. The post left netizens from both Hong Kong and China upset as this is a poignant subject for citizens of Hong Kong, a legislative part of China since 1997 after being handed back by Britain. However, most of the citizens still see their city as being independent from the mainland. Hong Kong is governed under the principle “one country, two systems,” and China has agreed to give the region its own share of autonomy to preserve its economic system and way of life.

His post created an immediate backlash and a resident of the semi-autonomous region replied, “I like you a lot, thanks for visiting, but this is Hong Kong, not China.” A second commented, “We have our own government, currency, and even football team.”

The UNICEF ambassador attempted to fix his political mistake by changing the caption to “Great 48 hours in Shanghai and Hong Kong.” Unfortunately, this just added fuel to the fire as many from the mainland accused him of being anti-Chinese. An angered Chinese citizen wrote, “Why edited your post? You were absolutely correct; Hong Kong is undoubtedly part of China (Just Google Hong Kong Handover ceremony lol). Anyway, it’s good to see someone finally realize that Hong Kong is merely an administrative district of China, just same level as Shanghai.”

Tension has been building between China and Hong Kong over the last few years as the Chinese government is tightening its hold on the island. The recent chief executive of Hong Kong, who is said to be pro-Beijing, provoked a certain amount of crackdown on the city.

David Beckham to star in a King Arthur movie

The former England star wowed fans with his new image overhaul as he plays a well-known character, Blackleg leader, in a new King Arthur movie. Netizens had to take a double look at the snapshot as Beckham is pretty much unrecognizable in the photo. His chiseled face has been transformed into a disgruntled knight with yellow rotting teeth and a huge scar running down on one side of his face. The father of four was seen grimacing in front of a mirror making sure all eyes were on his fake scar. He wrote on the caption, “Rough day at the office @kingarthurmovie @guyritchie.” Guy Ritchie is set to direct the film and Beckham will be joined by actors Jude Law and Charlie Hunman. He’s definitely in good hands!

Before going to the set, David was seen spending the weekend with his daughter Harper, 5, as he taught her to ride a bike. He took a clip of their bonding moment and posted it on Instagram on Mother’s Day. David was running alongside his little girl who was riding her pink bike.

“So so proud,” he captioned.

https://www.facebook.com/Beckham/videos/10154228298916571/

[Featured Image by Evan Agostini/AP Images]