Amos Yee spotted getting haircut in Taman Jurong as barber later removes viral video

SINGAPORE: A local home barber who gave vlogger Amos Yee a haircut on the staircase in a building in Taman Jurong uploaded a video of the haircut on TikTok on Sunday (Aug 30). 

He captioned the clip, which very quickly got more than one hundred thousand views and likes, “Celebrity cut with Amos Yee.” 

By the following day, however, he had taken it down.

Yee has been convicted of offences in both Singapore and the United States, and has served extensive jail time in both countries. 

In Singapore, he is currently facing a total of seven charges.

The short video clip first shows Yee, 27, greeting the barber, who looks even younger than he does, with a handshake. As he sits in the barber chair, the vlogger waves to the camera. Yee then appears to show the barber a photo on his phone, presumably of his desired haircut, and the barber proceeds to give him a trim.

Yee is then seen showing off his new look outside the building.

Given that Yee is a highly controversial figure, it should come as no surprise that the barber, who regularly gives haircuts for free, took it down. 

In 2015, when Yee was only 16, he gained notoriety in Singapore when he criticised the government as well as a number of religious figures. He also criticised the late Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding Prime Minister.

Yee ended up being jailed twice for his actions and moved to the US in December 2016, just before he was required to begin National Service. He was granted political asylum the following year after a judge ruled that he faced persecution in Singapore for his political opinions.

In October 2020, he was charged with solicitation and possession of child pornography. After his arrest, he pleaded not guilty in a Chicago court to all charges related to his arrest. In December 2021, he was given a six-year jail sentence and was released on parole in October 2023, but was re-arrested a month later because he had violated his parole conditions.

After he was released from jail again last November, the US detained him in preparation for deportation proceedings to begin. 

On Aug 26, Yee was handed four new charges in relation to his online content, making a total of seven since he was deported to Singapore in March.

The Singapore Police Force issued a statement on Aug 25 saying it had received several reports regarding the 27-year-old Yee’s posts, which were characterised as “alarming and racially divisive.” /TISG

Read also: Amos Yee facing 4 new charges over indecent content, racially charged posts