An Australian couple has found themselves in hot water after videos of them purportedly mocking Asians in Singapore were posted to Instagram.
Lance Giles, founder of the Australian food delivery business YouFoodz, and his fiancee, Jordana Stott, were in town this week to attend the Global Restaurant Leadership Conference at Marina Bay Sands when they posted two Instagram videos showing what appeared to be Stott ridiculing a couple watching an origami-making video at a restaurant, as well as a group of ladies taking a photo in the infinity pool.
Following a torrent of criticism over the insulting posts — which had a distinctly anti-Asian bent — the couple deleted the videos from Giles’ Instagram account and apologized for their actions. The Australian supermarket Woolworths, which retails some of YouFoodz’s products, is reportedly investigating the company over the incident.
“Watching this back makes us feel pretty lousy. What we thought was light-hearted is unpleasant and not funny,” Giles said in a statement to the Daily Mail.
“Jordana and I would like to assure everyone that this isolated incident does not portray the way we feel or act on a day-to-day basis,” he added.
In one of the two videos, Stott had appeared to ridicule a couple sitting next to them at a restaurant who were watching an origami-making clip on a phone. In the clip, the camera zooms in on the phone’s screen, and Stott can be heard attempting to impersonate a stereotypical “Chinese” accent (which, by the way, still manages to sound outrageously Australian), saying: “F***ing origami, mate.”
The next clip was of four women taking a photo while in the Marina Bay Sands’ infinity pool, with Stott heard saying: “Get it c***, f***ing get the photo, oh f***ing yeah, shi-shing!”
A man — presumably Giles — echoed Stott’s “shi-shing” in the background before the clip ended.
It’s not known whether both of them were intoxicated when they took the videos (as some commenters have suggested), but they’re definitely dealing with the proverbial hangover now, with both Australians and Singaporeans heaping scorn on the couple online. Some even said they plan to boycott YouFoodz.
“This guy is speaking at a leadership conference, what kind of example is he setting?” says Singaporean Raj Singh in a Facebook video post. The conference took place from Nov. 3 to Nov. 6.
“No more YouFoodz for me,” chimed in one Khoala Nguyen from Australia on Facebook.
Woolworths, which sells YouFoodz’s snacks like protein cookies, has reportedly issued a “please explain” letter to the company regarding the debacle.
Founded in 2012, YouFoodz claims it delivers healthy meals to thousands of locations across Australia, including many Asian foods such as Pad Thai. (Back in 2016 they also sold Singapore noodles, which, for the record, do not exist in Singapore.)
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