Singapore is generally a conservative society. Many Singaporeans have views against topics like LGBTQ. However, there are signs that views have started to shift recently.
As part of the annual Pink Dot event – pro-LGBTQ movement – 4 faces have been revealed as the company’s ambassadors on Wednesday (15 May). One of whom is Ah Boys To Men actor Tosh Zhang.
However, a netizen took to Facebook the next day (16 May) to express her discomfort about his new appointment due to homophobic comments he made in 2011.
After the post was made by Pink Dot, the netizen remembers that Tosh has made insensitive remarks about LGBTQ years ago.
To confirm her suspicion, she went on Twitter to dig up some of those posts.
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The netizen recognises the tweet is over 7 years old. However, she found it uncomfortable to have Tosh as a Pink Dot ambassador – at least until he publicly apologises.
She also hopes Pink Dot choose their ambassadors more carefully in the future.
In response, Tosh apologised to her about his comments made in 2011.
He explains that these comments were made in 2011 when he was “deeply ignorant” about the discrimination faced by the LGBTQ community.
Apologising, Tosh takes full responsibility for his comments and assured the netizen that he is no longer the same person he was in 2011.
The netizen continues to say she hopes he is “genuinely committed to learning”.
She also raised another issue — Tosh has a pattern of prejudice against women in his words. Apparently, she no longer wants an apology but the acknowledgement that he will be better.
In response, Ah Boys To Men 4 actress – Apple Apo Chan – said that she believes that Tosh is no longer the same person who made those comments.
She brought up an example in 2017 when Tosh defended her after she was accused by men online of sleeping around to get the role.
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He had also previously spoken up about legalising gay marriage in Singapore.
Pink Dot has also issued a statement about Tosh’s tweets.
Pink Dot agrees that the tweets are unacceptable. However, instead of harping on them, this should be seen as a learning point and an opportunity for more discussions on LGBTQ discrimination.
While you won’t know if he has really changed, his apology seems genuine enough.
It’s not fair to judge someone for something he said 8 years ago. In fact, this shows how much he has changed since then.
MS News wishes Tosh all the best as the ambassador of Pink Dot.
Featured image from Facebook and Instagram.
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