Singapore firm fires Australian after Facebook rant about Pokemon Go

Pokimon Go, Facebook Rant, Australian in Singapore, Singapore Company Fires Australian
Singapore Company Fires Australian National After Facebook Rant About Pokemon Go – www.plnmedia.com ( photo by JAY JANNER / AP)

An Australian has been fired from his job after posting a rant about the game Pokemon Go, and why it isn’t available in Singapore.

The profanity-laden rant went viral after it suggested Singapore was an ‘undesirable place’ to live due to the unavailability of the smartphone app.

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Sonny Truyen’s wrote the post, saying “stupid people” would be severely affected and that the national IQ rate would fall if he left the country.

Truyen’s employer fired him from his job after Singaporean’s alerted them of his offensive rant.

The Australian was working for real estate website 99.co.

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Chief executive of 99.co apologised for Truyen’s comments in his blog post saying: “Sonny, as an SEO specialist, has only started consulting for us for a week before the incident happened.”

The company went on to say: “We are a proud Singaporean company and do not condone such language or behaviour, hence we have since terminated his engagement once the incident came to light.”

Truyen is not the first foreign national living in the city to be fired after a social media rant.

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Authorities in Singapore are known to take strong action against public comments that are considered to breach standards of decency. Like the Philippines, a heavy ‘Pride’ factor overshadows the realities of free speech within the country.

In an interview with Mashable about the incident, Truyen said: “It was disappointing the lengths Singaporeans went at to attack me and deny [me] any chance of making amends for my actions.”

Truyen has since deleted his social media account and only posted: “It was a big error in judgement to negatively label an entire country over Pokemon.”

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