--- title: "China Is Using a Mr. Bean Impersonator to Spread Virus Propaganda" description: "Somehow, the man got trapped in China during a quarantine for the coronavirus, and is now apparently being propped up by the government to spready the word." date: "2020-03-10" modified: "2020-03-10" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/china-mr-bean-impersonator-coronavirus-propaganda" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid19" - "health" - "mr bean" --- # China Is Using a Mr. Bean Impersonator to Spread Virus Propaganda ![the Chinese government is using a professional Mr. Bean impersonator to spread propaganda about its response to the deadly, COVID-19-causing coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.]() *\Image: China Central Television\* An [extraordinary scoop]() by *Sky News*: the Chinese government is using a professional Mr. Bean impersonator to spread propaganda about its response to the deadly, COVID-19-causing coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. *Sky* reports that the impersonator, a British man named Nigel Dixon, was trapped in Wuhan by the outbreak. Now, for some reason, he's appeared in a video by the state-run Xinhua News Agency, to praise China's response to the novel virus. "It sickens me to hear of other countries blaming China, but for what?" Dixon says in the video, seemingly in the character of [iconically inept Rowan Atkinson character Mr. Bean](). "We are now hearing of cases where people around the world have contracted their virus with no obvious connections to China." Dixon's relationship with the Chinese government is unclear in *Sky*'s reporting, but it's worth noting that his sunny outlook on China's efforts is not a consensus view. Though China has taken extraordinary measures to fight the outbreak over the past month, including [constructing entire hospitals]() and quarantining a [historically unprecedented number of citizens](), its initial response was far more muted and problematic. At first, China's primary goal seemed to be to hide the outbreak entirely — a decision that likely contributed to its explosive spread. A number of the first citizen journalists in China to raise the alarm about the virus were [silenced or arrested]() by state authorities. After doctor Li Wenliang tried to warn about the virus, he too was [shut down by police]() — and, in a grim twist, later contracted the pathogen himself and died from it. The Atkinson-impersonating Dixon, though, doesn't seem phased by any of that. "The government have done an amazing job," Dixon says in the video surfaced by *Sky News*. He also quips that "Once people were waiting for hospital beds, now beds are waiting for people." ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()