US comedian Sammy Obeid has accused Singapore’s media regulator of censorship after his upcoming show was cancelled, but officials say the permit was rejected due to a late application.
Obeid, who was set to perform at Singapore’s Victoria Theatre on 31 August, said in an Instagram statement that his script was “rejected twice” by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and that he was ultimately told a permit would not be issued. He alleged that officials asked him to remove all mentions of Palestine and Israel.
However, the IMDA has rejected Obeid’s claims, stating that the event was cancelled because the licence application was submitted on 15 August, only 10 working days before the performance, well short of the 40-working-day requirement. “At no time were ‘multiple edits’ requested,” the IMDA added, according to a report by The Straits Times.
Obeid told the South China Morning Post that his representative was informed of revision requests on 25 August, including removing all mentions of Israel and Palestine, crowd work portions, and a few other jokes. Hours later, the application was rejected.
“I understand that Singapore has a lot of strict rules, most of us know this. But to state it was just a late submission, and not at all about the content, is definitely contrary to what our rep has told us,” Obeid said.
