Irish singer Ronan Keating deleted an Instagram post today after he was accused of misleading fans about conditions in the city-state during the coronavirus outbreak.
A photo capturing a bird’s eye view of Singapore’s tanker-choked waters, a typical sight for one of the world’s busiest ports, was published to the 43-year-old’s official Instagram page yesterday with a caption conflating it with the outbreak.
“A snap shot of some of the Tankers held in Singapore not allowed to dock because of the virus,” he wrote.
The post to his account, which has 300,000 followers, had attracted nearly 8,000 likes and numerous comments until an unlikely fan of the former Boyzoner – Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority – weighed in.
The authority explained that the ships were just idling in a long queue that had nothing to do with the disease outbreak.
Ships arrive or leave every two to three minutes and that there can be 1,000 there at any one time, the authority said.
“#WeCouldntSayNothingAtAll,” the authority hash-quipped a reference to the singer’s hit track When You Say Nothing At All. As of Tuesday morning, the post was gone.
Others who commented on Keating’s post were less circumspect.
Singaporean blogger Mr Brown called him out for posting “ignorant nonsense.”
“The ships are always queuing in Singapore waters because we are the busiest port in the world,” he added.
Update: ‘A local’ told Ronan Keating ships stranded off Singapore due to COVID-19
Close, but Singapore is actually No. 2 behind Shanghai, according to the World Shipping Council.
Alex Yam, who represents Marsiling-Yew Tee in parliament, also highlighted Keating’s post on his Facebook page to alert to the public that the singer’s statement was “untrue.”
The Instagram post had still been online when Coconuts Singapore checked Keating’s account late last night. Today, after it was removed, there was nothing from the artist addressing the flak.
Yup, he said nothing at all.
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