Ten Curious Facts about Amos Yee

This boy is a media magnet!

Just when I thought news about him will finally die down after his sentencing, the Singapore media just went crazy again today, reporting on Amos Yee’s weird allegations that his ex-bailor, Vincent Law, molested him. Law has since refuted the allegations.

Regardless if the molesting really did happen, Amos Yee certainly knows how to create conversation topics and hog the media limelight!

As much as I would like to view him as an ordinary boy caught up in a crazy situation, a lot of things about Amos Yee are stranger than fiction. Here are ten curious facts about him which you may have missed.

1.
Amos once wanted to change his name

This was revealed by poet Alfian Sa’at, during a meeting with Amos and his parents. “Because his full name is Amos Yee Pang Sang. And in school the kids used to tease him and called him ‘Anus Yee Pang Sai’. You know ‘pang sai’ in Hokkien means to ‘pass motion’.” Shared Amos’ mother. His parents really should have picked a better name. “Anus Yee Pang Sai” means “Anus go pass motion” in full translation.

2.

Amos Yee once made a video insulting Chinese and Chinese New Year when he was 14

Details in my previous post. Amos’ video celebrating Lee Kuan Yew’s death was not his first encounter with internet notoriety. This was  the offending video from three years ago in 2012:

3.

Amos enjoys Maurice Sendak’s 1963 classic children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are

Details in my previous post. Maybe this may explain why he is so full of angst and his tirade against his father for allegedly abusing him.

4.

Amos was already an award-winning filmmaker when he was just 13 years old

In 2011, then Zhonghua Secondary School student, Amos Yee was the winner of both the Best Actor and Best Short Film awards at The New Paper’s inaugural FiRST Film Fest for his film, Jan, a funny, witty entry about a boy desperately trying to cajole his three friends to help a girl who has cancer:

5.

Amos acted in Jack Neo’s 2012 movie, We Not Naughty 《孩子不坏》

Singapore’s top box-office director, Jack Neo was Amos’ mentor from the FiRST Film Fest and gave him a small acting role in the movie because he saw potential in the boy. I wonder if he thinks the same about Amos now.

6.

Amos Yee and Roy Ngerng are friends

Yes, that same Roy Ngerng who is a political activist and blogger, found guilty in October 2014 of defaming Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore in a blog post. They have met several times and Roy even showed up in court to support Amos on many occasions, blogging about his case and lobbying for his release with international groups.

7.

Mr Brown once ‘cyberbullied’ Amos by making a spoof video on him

Tsk tsk…

8.

Amos got a guy 3 weeks’ jail for slapping him

This kind of vigilante is frowned upon in Singapore. A self-employed man, Neo Gim Huah, 49, was sentenced to three weeks in jail for slapping Amos Yee outside the State Courts.

9.

The Reform Party’s Secretary-General, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, seems to be a big fan of Amos

Go see his blog, especially this post and this post. 

10.

There is a fashion blog dedicated to “What Amos Wore”

Yes it’s true. If you are inspired by how Amos dresses and would like to steal his looks, check out this awesome fashion blog.