Vietnamese artists pressured to show respect for late general secretary

When the Vietnamese government announced the death of the top leader, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, on July 19 many celebrities rushed to express their condolences on social media.

Singers and artists canceled performances, judging them inappropriate at a time of national mourning.

Celebrities who didn’t express their condolences or continued to talk about their personal lives online were criticized, even boycotted, by Vietnamese social media users for being "ungrateful." 

Singer Suni Ha Linh had to apologize after posting her work schedule on July 21. Actresses Khanh Van and Nam Thu showed remorse for adding black backgrounds to their personal pages but leaving their own images there.

For TikTok influencer Duy Muoi, an attempt at online humor cost him his job as creative director at a media company. His employers were not amused at a comment under a memorial photo of Trong with the year of his birth and death 1944-2024: "why is there a hotline number?". 

One Vietnamese journalist who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject told Radio Free Asia they believed the comments of so many “outraged netizens” were really the online work of a handful of party loyalists.

““But pressure from extremists has scared these young people into making forced apologies, which were reported by the press and propaganda networks, as if it were a way to clear the government's name in the context of a failed tragic staging of the leader's death,” the journalist said.

Vietnamese ‘"Red Guards’"

Most celebrities did not update their online statuses from July 19 until the end of the two days of mourning on July 26. Many, however, posted updates immediately afterwards.

U.S.-based singer Mai Khoi, said she believed that the singers, models, actors and other celebrities who posted their condolences were “obediently following orders.”

“They never posted anything expressing their admiration and love for Trong when he was alive, so why did the admiration and love suddenly come after he died? Surely their mourning for the leader was forced following instructions,” she said.

One Hanoi resident, who has been closely following the developments related to Trong’s funeral, said there were two types of people criticizing artists for lack of respect: the mass of people who loved Trong, and people close to the government who act as public opinion makers or an “online combat force.”

“I find this force very aggressive,” the Hanoi resident said. “Many even say that these artists are ungrateful and deserve to be imprisoned. People curse for very extreme reasons.

“In my opinion, this is stirring up the extremist spirit of the Vietnamese people, no different from the Red Guards of China. And the government's nurturing and encouraging of that extremist spirit is extremely dangerous, not good at all." 

Mai Khoi agreed with the comparison to China’s Red Guards, the student-led movement that aggressively enforced the teachings of Chairman Mao Zedong in the 1960s.

“This is clearly the argument of the public opinion makers whose source is the propaganda department of the Communist Party of Vietnam. No ordinary citizen has the leisure to blame artists for not crying long enough for the leader in order to set an example for the youth,” she wrote

Mai Khoi said many artists had become famous and attracted a fan base through the state-controlled media monopoly and felt obligated towards it.

“When they become famous and become Key Opinion Leaders, they must serve the state by contributing to spread propaganda and brainwash the people,” she wrote. 

“When people are brainwashed, they will believe in the lying government like they believe in God. They will no longer have the ability to think and distinguish between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, and will no longer have the ability to resist."

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn.