The teen, who posted on social media a video of himself licking the straw, could be jailed for more than two years.
  • homes@piefed.worldEnglish
    13·
    2 hours ago

    ok, so it’s not as simple as the headline makes it seem:

    A French teenager who allegedly licked a straw from an orange juice vending machine and put it back into its dispenser has been charged with committing mischief and being a public nuisance in Singapore.
    …
    Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 18, had posted on Instagram a video of himself performing the act, according to local reports. The video was later widely circulated.

    The company that owns the vending machine, iJooz, says it replaced all 500 straws in the machine’s dispenser after the alleged incident.
    …
    Maximilien had posted his video as an Instagram Story with a caption stating “city is not safe”, according to news reports.

    Many online had reacted with disgust to his video, which was reposted on a community page and picked up by local news outlets.

    ok, so he didn’t just “lick a straw”. the little asshole did it as some sort of viral video trend going around doing public nuisance bullshit for likes and views, posted it online, then got caught. womp-womp.

    it cost the vending machine company to send someone out to replace all the straws and deal with people being upset about the sanitary aspect (asian countries freak out about that sort of thing more than western countries), and it was a whole public thing.

    now, do I think 2 years in jail is fair? no. a big fine and a big public apology (esp on his TikTok or Insta or whatever) should be enough. but this is Singapore, so he’s lucky they aren’t caning him to death.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      1 hour ago

      I guess to the authorities, he’s going to be the one licked straw that makes 500 other twerpy teens throw out their plans to pull similar pranks.

      • homes@piefed.worldEnglish
        1·
        50 minutes ago

        I get the whole “make an example of him” concept, but that can be accomplished by forcing him to embarrass himself publicly to all of his dipshit followers on social media. 2 years in jail seems excessive. other social media “pranksters” have been jailed for far worse.

    • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 hours ago

      It says that the charge carries that as a maximum, not that that’s what he’ll get. While i also think two years would be excessive, I absolutely think this moron should be punished severely, if only just to deter all the other morons from pulling shit like this for clicks.

    • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
      4·
      3 hours ago

      That’s a max possible sentence, but then it’s also authoritarian hellhole Singapore that executes people for moderate-level drug crimes, so we’ll see how it plays out.

      • misk@piefed.socialEnglish
        2·
        1 hour ago

        It’s worth remembering that many colonial powers controlled their Asian subjects via drugs so there is a relevant cultural context for why those crimes are treated this harshly. In general Singapore has more focus on „freedom to live” than „freedom to consume” too.

  • TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website
    3·
    2 hours ago

    Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 18, had posted on Instagram a video of himself performing the act, according to local reports. The video was later widely circulated.

    With a name like that you know his parents were never there and thought that pouring money into him was love

  • claimsou@lemmy.world
    3·
    3 hours ago

    „Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien„ . I hope this is only the birth names and that no one call him that.

    • homes@piefed.worldEnglish
      1·
      48 minutes ago

      Even “Didier Maxmimilien” seems over-the-top. his parents deserve a good slap