Unless you’re a bear who was in hibernation for the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard about the Preetipls/Dennis Chew saga.
But if you actually are a bear who was hibernating, let me congratulate you on your ability to read and describe to you what happened.
‘Brownface’ ad
A few weeks ago, NETS released an advertisement about the electronic payments campaign E-Pay featuring four different characters to represent the three different races. That sounds fine, right? The problem was that they were all portrayed by the same Chinese actor.
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The advertisement was criticized for its stereotypical portrayals of the races and its use of brownface.
NETS and Mediacorp both apologized for the advertisement and it was later taken down.
Response
However, YouTuber Preetipls and her brother responded with a racial rap video denouncing the treatment of minorities in Singapore.
Here is the video:
OK, so we can’t show the video because it has been taken down. But this is the closest thing I could find.
Some viewed Preetipls’ rap video as an attack on Chinese people because of its strong language. A police report was made and the video was later taken down after the Media Development Agency issued a notice.
Parody apology
Preetipls and her brother later issued an apology and it seemed like everything would be ok.
Narrator: But everything would be not ok.
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Some netizens suggested that Preetipls’ apology was simply a parody of that of Havas and The Celebrity Agency‘s.
Even a bear who recently came out of hibernation would be able to spot the similarities.
After that apology, it seemed like the bitterness would slowly dissipate and everyone would be friends again.
Narrator: But that didn’t happen.
GOD, WHY IS THERE EVEN A NARRATOR IN MY ARTICLE?
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Confrontational tweets
Preetipls continued to ruffle feathers with a few seemingly passive-aggressive tweets like these:
hello, my brother and I were born with our brown faces💁🏽♀️ stop using our faces to sell clicks @STcom
with a headline like that – only a pic of the awfully silent Dennis Chew or the E-pay ad would’ve been apt 🤪 pic.twitter.com/96tqwpNca5— Preeti Nair (@plspreeti) August 7, 2019
eh how come this article never use my face? https://t.co/KTWLbUjjaJ
— Preeti Nair (@plspreeti) August 7, 2019
However, one can understand her bitter resentment considering the response from both certain netizens.
Preetipls posted screenshots of racist responses to her video which only supports the fact that racism truly exists in our country.
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Was Preetipls completely innocent in her video? No.
But for those who have not watched her rap video, she did clarify at the end that not all Chinese people are racist and that the video is targeted only at those that are.
If we focus on having an actual conversation about this very important issue that plagues Singaporeans, then maybe, just maybe, we may achieve genuine racial harmony in the future.
Narrator: Except we won’t.
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OMG.
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