American act Stephen Speaks has apologized for a viral post where he claimed he “bribed” a traffic enforcer with a selfie after the band’s Grab driver was pulled over for supposedly beating the red light on Friday.
“Our Grab (like Uber) driver just got pulled over in Manila for running a red light, and my tour crew bribed him with a selfie with me to let us go. He said he sings Passenger Seat at the karaoke bar. I was like…. I can’t believe that actually worked,” the act wrote on his Facebook page.
The post immediately went viral with over 8,000 reactions as of writing, many of whom found hilarious that just like his mega-hit Passenger Seat, Stephen Speaks was all his Grab driver needed to get out of a supposed ticket.
Yet the artist’s claim immediately caught the attention of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), who said it was going to investigate the incident and probe the enforcer involved in the supposed “bribery.”
“The MMDA would like to stress that fame, power, and connections are not considered free passes to avoid being ticketed. It is wrong that a traffic violator was not given a citation ticket just because the passenger is a well-known figure,” the agency wrote online.
The act then apologized for using the word “bribe,” clarifying the details surrounding the incident with an update.
“The kid driving us showed the officer on his dash cam that he was clear of the light, someone stopped in front of him and that’s why he didn’t make it all the way through. We aren’t criminals here. It’s like the replay in a sports game when the referee realizes he saw it wrong. I just thought it was funny the officer wanted a selfie with me. I apologize for using the word ‘bribe,’ that’s not actually how it went down,” he wrote.
In another post, the artist wrote that he would like to move on from the issue.
“Hi everyone. Thanks for reaching out but we’re moving on from this. We did not mean anything by this. It was just a poor choice of words on our part. It was done in jest that resulted in this. We apologize to all who have been bothered by this seeming disregard for authority. Rest assured, we respect all the authorities in the Philippines. We will learn from this. Once more, my sincerest apologies,” he said.
The MMDA has not commented on Stephen Speaks’ updated post.
