S’porean youth jokes about eating 7th month offerings when ‘broke & hungry’, gets harassed online

Youth clarifies he never ate 7th month offerings after backlash

A Singaporean youth is facing online backlash after joking about eating food offerings meant for spirits and ancestors during the 7th month, or Hungry Ghost Festival.

The clip, which showed him chewing pandan cake to look as though he had eaten offerings, quickly went viral on TikTok since its upload on 24 Aug.

However, many viewers were not amused, with comments ranging from disbelief to veiled warnings.

Joke was never meant to cause offence

Antonius, 22, told MS News that his TikTok video was not a spur-of-the-moment act but a continuation of something he had done before.

“I made basically the same video a year ago,” he explained, adding that one of his friends had reminded him of it in a private conversation.

So, Antonius simply decided to make a new and improved version.

He emphasised that he never ate the food offerings.

“I didn’t actually eat the offerings, it’s just pandan cake I bought from a mama shop nearby,” Antonius said.

“I just thought it would’ve been funny to have a clip of me with food coming out of my mouth looking like a crazy person.”

Youth receives harsh criticism and direct threats

Many commenters expressed shock, while others labelled him disrespectful.

However, Antonius said some of the critics have crossed a line.

He shared that he has been called derogatory names, as well labels that go along the lines of ‘emo twink’.

One user also threatened to send him to a boys home and shave his head.

The harassment even spilled into his Instagram direct messages (DMs).

“He went on to comment on my pictures and hurling insults left and right in my DMs,” Antonius told MS News.

Despite trying to be “amicable and communicative” with him, the commentor remained hostile.

Youth does not encourage others to eat 7th month offerings

Antonius insists his video was satire and that he does not support actually consuming offerings.

“I’m neither a Buddhist or desperate enough to eat offerings to provide a unique insight on this topic,” he said.

“But I think if you were really starving, there’s no harm in eating them as a last resort.”

However, Antonius says that he does not agree with eating it just for fun since “it’s religious after all”.

He said he tried to make the video “as inoffensive as possible”, pointing out that it was stylised with rainbow effects, American meme TikTokker Jay Guapo audio, and meme-style edits to signal it was comedy.

Viral fame was expected, but the backlash was not

Antonius suspected the video would gain traction.

“I had a feeling it would go viral, considering I think I edited it pretty well to suit the TikTok FYP right now,” he said.

Still, the attention brought unwanted consequences.

That said, Antonius is not letting the backlash consume him.

“The video going viral isn’t a bad thing,” he told MS News.

“Ultimately the more viral it gets, the more people that laugh and that was my main intent.”

“It’s not like this will affect my personal life anyway, since I know this is just my five seconds of fame or notoriety and people will forget about this by the end of next week,” added Antonius.

For now, he says he will leave the insults where they are — on the internet.

Also read: Residents slammed for burning 7th-month offerings on new pavement in Woodlands

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Featured image adapted from @antcnius on TikTok.