And the plot congeals. After Singaporean drama addict Wendy Cheng, aka Xia Xue, leaped into the fray with her own speculation about the anonymous figure at the center of a messy influencer feud, the TikToker she accused fessed up: it was him.
Ending weeks of speculation over the identity of the Sgcickenrice account, TikToker Baerendang admitted Friday in a post that he authored the original posts leveling a range of allegations against one of the founders of a popular YouTube channel.
“I felt a moral obligation to speak up and shed light on these issues that have plagued employees and so I did,” he said in an Instagram response. “The goal was simple- to demand fair wages, timely payment, and equitable treatment. There were no ‘camps’, but only employees to support.”
Brandon says he is 20 but did not disclose his full name. Though Night Owl credits a Brandon Gwee as producer, Brandon denied being an employee.
In his mea culpa, Brandon, said he was not sorry for speaking up for the employees.
“To cut the long story short, I apologize for my naïvete and my admittedly misguided ways,” he said. “I will take all criticisms and pitchforks, but all I ask for is for the employees to be spared.”
He said things got messy and that he began to feel like a “pawn.” He also denied “hacking” Chan’s accounts and only posted information that had been publicly released.
His TikTok confession came hours after Cheng outed him.
Not one to pass an opportunity for attention, Cheng made her TikTok debut today just days after her two-hour interview with Night Owl Cinematics cofounder Sylvia Chan went viral. Bragging that the interview got a million views, Cheng then took matters into her own hands by accusing Brandon, who she said was a Night Owl associate, of kicking off the city’s most talked-about drama this month.
Riled with hate for “cancel culture” – a convenient euphemism for “consequences” – Cheng pointed to circumstantial evidence linking TikTok’s Baerendang to Sgcickenrice’s original TikTok account, where his profile photo briefly appeared in a video. On TikTok, he was identified only as “Brandon.”
But first Xia Xue made it clear that if she could “cancel” anything, it would be internet anonymity:
“So throughout this saga, I have tried to remain neutral. Okay, but there’s one thing, one thing that I’m definitely not on the side of and that is fucking cancel culture. […] If you want to say something, say with your fucking face, don’t be a fucking coward,” she said.
“Nothing gives me more satisfaction than finding out who is behind an anonymous account,” she added.
@xiaxue This cicken rice be bussin’ 😎
♬ original sound – Wendy Cheng
Cheng provided screenshots of a now-deleted video posted to TikTok by Sgcickenrice which showed the same photo as Brandon’s TikTok profile. She said it had appeared in a post soon replaced by a version that cropped it out.
She said that she once met him at a shoot with the Night Owl crew, some of whom he was closely acquainted with.
Brandon had not responded to messages sent Friday to the TikTok account as of publication time.
Cheng added that he had posted several videos on his personal account “mocking” Chan but removed them around the same time Sgcickenrice deleted all their posts on Wednesday.
Eagle-eyed speculation? Or could Cheng have been privy to some insider info stemming from the legal maneuvering that’s taken place since the scandal erupted?
Just a few days ago, she sat down for a chummy interview with Chan addressing the volley of accusations which have included cheating, abusive workplace behavior, and even sexual exploitation.
Both Chan and former business partner-slash-husband Ryan Tan deny pretty much everything, though Chan has publicly apologized for behaving badly.
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