S’pore rapper confronts woman over racist remark at Bugis Junction, her son apologises

Man hears woman refer to him as a ‘ghost’ at Bugis Junction, says it’s racist

After hearing a woman in a store refer to him as a “ghost”, Singaporean rapper Subhas Nair confronted her but did not receive an apology.

However, he was grateful to get one from her son instead, he said.

Woman heard making racist remark in Bugis Junction store

A video of the incident was posted on Thursday (24 Oct) via the Instagram account of Mr Nair’s sister, YouTuber Preeti Nair, also known as Preetipls.

He said he had just entered the Cotton On outlet in Bugis Junction when he heard a woman telling her son “鬼在后面” (ghost is behind you) in Mandarin.

While initially thinking she was referring to the sales staff, he realised she was talking about him when she repeated the phrase.

Woman evasive when confronted over racist remark at Bugis Junction

Mr Nair decided to record a video and confront her, but she was evasive and tried to brush him off, appearing unwilling to engage.

Though he kept asking her what she had said and also pointed out that it was racist, she continued walking away from him.

At one point, she was heard chiding her son in Mandarin for “just looking” as Mr Nair was recording them.

Eventually, she told her son to put back the clothes he was trying on and left, so Mr Nair never received a response from her despite following her around the shop for a while.

Son apologises for his mother’s behaviour

When her son approached, though, Mr Nair told him that he just wanted an apology, which he finally got from her son instead.

When asked if his mother was racist, he shrugged and apologised again, saying:

I’m sorry that happened to you. It’s actually not right.

The young man told Mr Nair that he’d been “living through all this” and it was “scary” but he appreciated that he spoke up.

When asked whether his mother had “a problem with brown people”, he replied that it was a “mentality” that “cannot change”.

Revealing that he was 20 years old, he apologised yet again, saying that:

This is the first time that someone has actually spoken up to her.

Mr Nair told the young man that he was grateful that he was not like that.

Not the first time he encountered such an incident

When MS News reached out to Mr Nair, he said the woman was in her late 40s and he had not interacted with her before he heard her remark.

In fact, he hadn’t even noticed her before hearing it, as he’d only been in the store for less than a minute, he added.

He said that as an Indian in Singapore, this was not the first time he’d encountered such an incident and it “won’t be the last”, citing an incident in 2019 where local actor and DJ Dennis Chew made use of “brownface” to portray various characters in an advertisement.

Explaining why he didn’t call the police, Mr Nair added:

I believe issues like these can be resolved at a community level, between people.

He doesn’t blame the store either, as it was just “unfortunate” that it happened there.

On the positive side, he was grateful that her son “had the courage to do the right thing and take accountability on behalf of his mother”, he said.

Also read: Auntie Yells Racist Remarks During Tampines Hub Football Screening, Security Personnel Intervenes

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Featured image adapted from @preetipls on Instagram.