For Singaporeans who’re fond of soap operas, the Night Owl Cinematics (NOC) saga is the gift that keeps on giving, with new episodes almost daily.
But it all started with one of NOC’s talents, Samantha Tan, being the subject of alleged disparaging remarks by NOC co-founder Sylvia Chan.
Samantha has now indicated that she’s ready to leave it all behind with a final statement, which revealed that she resigned from NOC on 3 Oct.
However, she’s not about to let NOC off so easily – she’s already submitted her case of alleged workplace harassment and delayed payments to the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP).
Though Samantha had previously made intermittent posts in response to the saga, she said there are still lingering “hate comments and thoughts” from people that should be addressed.
Thus, she posted a lengthy statement on her Instagram stories on Saturday (30 Oct).
This will “definitely” be her last address on the saga, she added.
Read on for some important points she made if you can’t be bothered to read the whole thing.
The saga kicked off with now-defunct Instagram account @sgcickenrice sharing screenshots of text messages allegedly from Sylvia.
Earlier on Friday (29 Oct), Samantha had posted a short statement saying that she’s not linked to @sgcickenrice in any way.
Why would anybody think she was linked to the account?
It may be because, in the screenshots it shared, the F-bomb was dropped multiple times by a person appearing to be Sylvia, when describing her sentiments towards Samantha.
This may have led some netizens to think that Samantha was somehow behind their release.
Samantha thus clarified in her longer statement that she never released any screenshots.
She also attached a statement she posted on 9 Oct, after a recording was released of someone claimed to be Sylvia further disparaging her.
Samantha probably thought this point bears repeating, as she again denied releasing screenshots later in the statement.
She thinks the reason why people might suspect so was because it was insinuated that she had something to do with the Instagram account.
This is due to her close friendship with former NOC talent Nicole Liel.
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Nicole in turn is friends with influencer Brandon, or @baerendang – revealed to be the actual person behind @sgcickrenrice.
While Samantha said she isn’t a full-time NOC employee but just a talent, some might wonder why she hasn’t quit after all that’s happened.
To that, she revealed that she actually resigned on 3 Oct – just a few days before the saga started with @sgcickrenrice’s screenshots.
She cited “three other reasons” for her resignation, but didn’t elaborate.
Her exit interview will be conducted on 1 Nov.
Another bombshell that Samantha shared is that she’s submitted a case to TAFEP.
This is regarding the workplace harassment and delayed payments she allegedly experienced in NOC.
Some of these allegations were made by NOC staff in an explosive interview with MS News.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has also confirmed that it’s looking into the allegations, while TAFEP is in touch with the company on this matter.
One more significant point Samantha made was about the dinner she had with Sylvia and other co-founder Ryan Tan.
This was brought up in Sylvia’s interview with Xiaxue, where she said the dinner was Ryan’s idea and she knew what his purpose was.
Samantha explained that the dinner was an effort by Ryan to introduce her to Sylvia, hoping that they would become friends and have a great working relationship.
Alas, they never hung out after that, Samantha said, but kept in touch over WhatsApp.
Though they hardly met again, she still looked forward to meeting them and treasures the support they gave her in NOC.
In the later part of her statement, Samantha also discusses baseless hate comments by netizens, expounding upon their motivations in a thesis-worthy write-up.
For more of what she said, do catch her Instagram Stories here before they disappear.
It’s understandable for Samantha to want to clear up stuff, given that she’s an unwitting protagonist of this long-running saga.
However, now that she’s announced her departure from NOC, and her intention for this to be her final statement, let’s hope people finally leave her alone.
As she’s been cast by Jack Neo in his latest movie ‘Ah Girls Go Army’, she’s perhaps looking forward to leaving this all behind and moving on towards bigger and better things.
We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavours.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured images adapted from @samanthatyf on Instagram.
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