In the midst of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement in the United States, Singapore is also currently having a bout of woke-ness, with social media used as a platform to call out the prevalence of sexual misconduct in professional environments.
Though there’s nothing of Harvey Weinstein levels (yet), people with influence in the realm of entertainment are being brought to task for any unwanted coercion they may or may not have committed. As usually is the case, it’s a matter of she-said-he-said, so let’s not get too hasty in pointing fingers.
Now that we’re done with all that, let’s get to the meat of the matter: Eden Ang and the accusations of sexual misconduct perpetrated by him.
Who the hell is Eden Ang?
To be honest, I’ve never even heard of Eden Ang — he’s apparently a big-time local YouTube entertainer — but that’s most probably because I’m not his target audience. Though he has his own channel going, the 31-year-old is regularly associated with the likes of other local YouTube channels such as JianHao Tan, Night Owl Cinematics, and Wah!Banana; all of whom are responsible for typical clickbait-y videos that only teens and the basic AF crowd would lick up.
Here’s an example of the tripe content on his channel.
He can dance, sing, and do karate too, for what it’s worth. He’s done stints on the now-canceled Netflix series Marco Polo, the exhausting local drama Tanglin, and a number of other small pictures. All in all, a pretty hefty portfolio.
“Salty Post”
So last Thursday, a Facebook user who goes by the name Kuroe Kun made a huge accusation against the YouTuber — allegedly, her 18-year-old friend was sexually harassed by Ang.
Said friend had apparently been hired for Ang’s YouTube channel, and during the course of their work together, she was inappropriately touched by the actor, claimed Kuroe Kun. At one point, the friend complied to Ang’s alleged demands for her to strip to her lingerie out of fear.
To make matters worse, the police who handled the friend’s report of sexual harassment weren’t tactful and blamed the victim for bringing it upon herself, according to Kuroe Kun’s post, which has since been taken down.
A supposed screenshot of an exchange on WhatsApp was uploaded soon after, with Ang’s apology captured on Jan 11.
When it all blew up on social media, Ang took to Facebook to respond, neither confirming nor denying the accusations. What he did, however, was make a police report of his own to let the authorities investigate the case.
“Eden Ang Whats Up?!”
Next came along fellow YouTuber and influencer Dee Kosh, who revealed that he actually knew the details of Ang’s alleged sexual misconduct. In a rant that lasted over 20 minutes, Kosh railed against the police officers’ apparent mishandling of the case and brought insights into what reportedly transpired:
- The girl is 18 years of age.
- They met at a boxing match.
- She took a video of Ang and posted it on Instagram.
- Ang replied to her on Instagram and they started chatting.
- He hired her to be his personal assistant.
- Sometime later in a text exchange, Ang seemingly controlled the way she dressed. He asked her to “cover up” on one day and “dress different” on another.
- She said she’d prefer to dress professionally on both days.
- Ang replied: “Good girls listen to daddy. You should call me that actually”.
- Further down the text message exchange, she told him clearly “don’t touch me”.
- He replied “you wish mei mei (“little sister” in Mandarin)”.
- She went on to remind him that she had a boyfriend, to which he responded along the lines of not caring.
- Jumping forward in time, Ang messaged her to wear a “cute G”, for some reason. A G-string.
- When she refused, Ang told her to listen to “daddy” and show her best asset.
- Later on, the girl was (allegedly) told to take off her pants, and Ang (allegedly) smacked her ass.
A lot of people are doubting the legitimacy of the screenshots I used in my video. Saying that it could have been doctored, and that the person is not eden ang because of the profile pic. Well the last I checked ….. pic.twitter.com/eO9NFsXrvf
— Dee Kosh (@TheDeeKosh) January 26, 2018
Ang’s denial
It took a couple of days, but Ang finally spoke up again in the aftermath of the hullaballoo. According to the YouTuber’s post yesterday, he’s been receiving death threats and is even seeking legal action against the people (Dee Kosh included, probably) who’ve continued to cast “malicious accusations”.
“I did not take advantage of anyone. I recognize that incidents like these often play out in a “he said she said” situation, but my conscience is clear and I have the records to support this. Some have pointed out that I should publicly share details to prove my position. However, I will not be sharing any further details on identity or communications out of respect for everyone’s privacy. Any further discussions can be through the authorities.”
Ang then went on to outrightly state that receiving “unwanted attention at times from naysayers and competitors” are part and parcel of his profession. So yeah, he’s basically saying that folks are lodging fake sexual harassment accusations because he’s a major star.
Singapore Police Force vs Kuroe Kun
Singapore Police Force put out its own statement regarding the case, taking issue with is the fact that the alleged victim’s friend (Kuroe Kun) made some pretty serious claims about police officers from the Clementi Police Division. Police are calling the post “unfounded and false”, stating that officer who handled the alleged victim’s report carried out his duty professionally, and in now way spurned her away. In fact, it was the alleged victim who has yet to officially lodge a police report, despite the police’s continual attempts to reach out to her.
The alleged victim steps forward
While we’ve heard statements from the police, Ang and even his alleged victim’s friend, there was one voice that was absent, and that was the PA in subject herself. Until Jan 30, that is.
Identifying herself as Lilith, the woman publicly claimed to be the victim of Ang’s alleged harassment. With a picture of a white rose (a symbol recently worn by Hollywood celebs to stand against discrimination and abuse in the industry), Lilith issued her own side of the story, while clarifying some things that’ve emerged online since the scandal surfaced.
“I encourage every girl out there who may feel the same way as I do, so please, speak out,” she wrote in her post.
“Even if my coming out with this leads to being harassed and my safety being compromised, if I give courage to even just ONE other girl to stand up for what is right, this all be worth it.”
A former national athlete comes forward
Nicolette Lim, a 20-year-old former national gymnast, has taken to Facebook to accuse the entertainer of verbally harassing her in 2015, when they first met on a drama set. Similar to Lilith’s alleged experience, Ang reportedly sent lewd (and cringe-worthy) messages to Lim, including ones that commented on her pubic hair and underwear. According to Lim, Ang offered her a role in one of his many (basic AF) videos and invited her to his house for an audition… that apparently required her to wear a mini skirt and g-string. She got uncomfortable and ended contact with him — terrified to speak out earlier due to his clout as an influencer.
“Just a tasteless guy lacking game”
Model-actress Melissa Faith Yeo has not one, but two stories about Ang’s alleged misconduct. Apparently, in 2013, the YouTuber sent her messages that basically begged for some intimate time alone with her. A year later, Yeo’s friend claimed to have been felt up by Ang in her studio in New York, where he traveled to on government grant to learn about filmmaking.
Police investigations are still ongoing — we’ll update this story if we hear anything else.
