Thousands of signatures have been collected today across two separate online petitions that were set up on the Change.org platform in light of the E-Pay ad backlash.
A petition to stop Channel NewsAsia (CNA) from removing a segment involving Singaporean rapper Subhas Nair from its upcoming documentary ROAR has garnered more than 3,000 signatures, while a call demanding an “internal inquiry” from Mediacorp and ad agency Havas Worldwide to relook at its processes of approving ads has obtained a thousand signatures.
The petition, titled “Against The Erasure of Migrant Communities and Their Stories from ROAR, a CNA Documentary,” was set up by local independent publication Sand Magazine, which said on the page that it wanted to draw up support for the migrant workers behind the musical group Migrants Band Singapore.
The group had been involved in the program with the 27-year-old rapper, working with him on a song called Utopia for the documentary, which is set to premiere over the weekend, ahead of National Day next week.
CNA said earlier this week that they would remove Subhas from the documentary amid police investigations over a rap video the rapper and his sister Preeti Nair had produced in response to the “brownface” E-Pay ad for alleged offensive content. The state media added that it did not want to “associate with individuals” who had produced content that “threatens racial harmony.”
The E-Pay campaign to promote the use of an electronic payment system at hawker centers, industrial canteens and coffee shops had used Chinese Mediacorp actor Dennis Chew dressed in brownface to impersonate an Indian man and cross-dress as a Malay woman. All of it has since been pulled from the ads.
Removing Subhas from the documentary would mean that the “stories of Migrants Band Singapore will also be silenced”, Sand Magazine said on the petition page in response to CNA‘s decision.
“Featuring Migrants Band Singapore in a documentary about music-making and performance lifts up a community that lives on the margins of society, and brings their talents and voices to a larger platform,” it added.
“Erasing the narrative of migrant communities from the documentary sends the message that their stories do not matter and that they are disposable.”
The petition’s message echoes that of a “Statement of Solidarity” that was written on behalf of writers in Singapore and circulated on Instagram. Its statement, addressed to CNA, said that “there are more nuanced ways to respond to the situation at hand.”
Meanwhile, the other petition, titled “In solidarity with Preeti & Subhas Nair. Mediacorp & Havas Worldwide Inquiry Demanded”, is shoring up support for the siblings while asking that the two companies involved in the E-Pay ad conduct an internal inquiry and publish its findings in three weeks’ time.
The petition did not request for an inquiry from NETS, the financial services firm who had engaged Havas Worldwide for the ad.
According to the petition, the findings should detail “processes and protocols” for vetting and approval of ads, root causes of the brownface E-Pay ad, and reasons as to why a penalty imposed on Mediacorp in 2017 for racially insensitive content had not prevented a recurrence.
The petition is also demanding action to be taken in the form of “suspension or termination of employment”, as well as a new apology that shows “genuine remorse and admission of guilt.”
All companies involved in the E-Pay ad, including NETS, have since issued apologies, but none have clarified their stance on the use of brownface.
In the afternoon, Preeti and Subhas said they were sorry for “any hurt that was unintentionally caused” by their rap video. Strangely enough, the statement sounds similar to that of Mediacorp and Havas Worldwide’s apology.
— Preeti Nair (@plspreeti) August 2, 2019
Related stories:
NETS apologizes as police report filed against ‘brownface’ ad, artists rally around rapper duo
Mediacorp, ad agency sorry for ‘brownface’ ad, yank adverts
