Last Updated on 2023-05-05 , 11:24 am
If there’s one influencer saga that’s taken the country by storm over the past week or so, it’s definitely the one involving tuition centre owner Brooke Lim Ke Xin.
The 19-year-old, better known as Sugaresque on her social media platforms, was recently caught red-handed for plagiarising in an essay that she called “very much an autobiographical recount of [her] own experience”.
And if you think that you can excuse her being inspired by a quote or two from others, an evidence document revealed that she plagiarised over 70% of her work from over a dozen sources.
Afterwards, Lim, who is a TikTok influencer and runs a tuition centre that she started right after finishing her ‘A’ Levels in 2021, was also found to have plagiarised answers multiple other times for media responses and other monetised materials that were given to her students.
The evidence for those instances can be found in the same document linked above.
Since then, she has released an apology on TikTok, which many deemed insincere, especially how she went back on her word about not deleting comments on her videos.
(Yes, she does this frequently.)
Since then, netizens have launched a series of actions against her, such as posting a petition on Change.org to urge the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to investigate Lim.
For context, she was recently accepted into the school and is due to begin her studies there later this year.
Currently, the petition has over 1,400 signatures.
As for Lim herself, she recently sat down for an interview with RICE Media after maintaining her silence to discuss the aftermath of her actions and how she’s been dealing with it as a tuition teacher.
Has Reached Out to Apologise to All Students
When talking to RICE in her interview, which was published on Wednesday (26 April), Lim acknowledged that she had made a mistake and said that she has since reached out to apologise to all of her students (even former students) over the past few days.
In particular, she claimed that she has been completely transparent with them and that she is open to answering any questions her students might have about the incident.
Amidst her teary apologies and sentences throughout the interview, she said that she welcomes students to talk to her after lessons and that her tuition classes have continued as per usual despite her allegedly receiving death threats and being doxxed.
Clarified That Her Tuition Centre’s Resources are “Not Only Her Individual Work”
As for what else she has been doing to try and rectify her mistakes, Lim revealed that she and her team at Classicle Club, her tuition centre for ‘O’ Level English and ‘A’ Level General Paper classes, have been carefully going through all of their resources.
According to her, they have been doing so to ensure that any sources they previously failed to credit are now credited in the centre’s materials.
Additionally, Lim pointed out a “common misconception” that many netizens may have about her tuition centre’s materials, and it’s that she curates all of the centre’s resources.
Before she explained how Classicle’s resources are compiled, she prefaced that she has “utmost respect” for her team and does not want to “throw anyone under the bus” or point fingers.
She then revealed that the materials and notes are a collective effort between her, her team and her students.
Students and Their Parents Have Been “Extremely Supportive”
As for how her students have reacted, Lim said that both her students and their parents have been expressing their full support for her, which she expressed her gratitude for.
She added that Classicle has been extremely candid towards their students in terms of withdrawing and refunds.
According to her, students have been told that they will be issued a full refund within a week if they choose to quit and that the team will not have any “questions” regarding students’ decisions.
With regards to that, she claimed that no students have left her tuition centre (yet).
Newest Online Claims State that She Changed her T&Cs Regarding Refunds Only After Interview Was Published
However, despite Lim’s supposed transparency while speaking to RICE about the refunding process, eagle-eyed netizens have discovered that this was apparently not the case.
At least before the RICE article was published.
On Wednesday (26 April) night, a Reddit user posted a screenshot that supposedly belonged to Classicle’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) website.
In the Reddit user’s post, they highlighted how the screenshot showed that class fees are not refundable.
The user also wrote that the screenshot was taken at 9.51 pm on 26 April.
According to the screenshot, the website was responding to an FAQ about the centre’s refund and exchange policy.
“If you decide you don’t have the tenacity to last the full duration of your membership, that lack of tenacity is going to sting a little. That lack of tenacity is going to show up on your account balance at the end of the month, as a reminder that you played it small, when you could have reached for the stars,” the answer read.
Based on the screenshot, the email also matches the one that appears when you click on the “mail” icon on Classicle’s website under the “Connect” header.
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The same user commented in a post in r/SingaporeRaw to bring attention to the same screenshot.
Image: Reddit (r/SingaporeRaw)
The user also claimed that Lim lied in her interview.
Under that comment, another user wrote that they know someone who attends Lim’s tuition centre but was not sent any messages related to withdrawals and refunds.
A third netizen also addressed how Lim said in her interview that the TikTok account that exposed her did not reach out to her.
In particular, the netizen saw “a screenshot of [the account that exposed Lim] showing that they posted a comment on [Lim’s TikTok account,] but this comment was filtered and not published”.
Apart from that, this netizen echoed similar sentiments as the previous one by stating that a “junior who attends her classes… confirmed no such message and option of withdrawal”.
After posting the initial comment on Wednesday (26 April) night, the netizen provided an update on Thursday (27 April) morning by saying that their junior received a message from Lim which gave students the “option to quit”.
However, the netizen pointed out that Lim did not mention anything about a refund at all.
Additionally, as of today (29 April), the FAQ clause featured in the screenshot can no longer be found on Classicle’s FAQ website.
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