Singapore — Maybe the lesson to be learned in this case is that there can be more to it than meets the eye.
Facebook page Diaozui Hotline Memes issued an apology after uploading two photos of people on the MRT that were confusing and drew unwelcome comments.
The photos showed four people — two men and two women — taking a train. From right to left was a man in a red shirt, a woman in a white shirt who shared earphones with the man in a black shirt next to her. Beside this man was a woman in a green shirt, who hugged his arm and lay her head on his shoulder. He had one hand resting on her knee as they looked at her phone screen.
The people, as it turned out, were related in one way or another, and drew attention to this on the post.
Diaozui Hotline Memes apologised and took down the post, explaining that it thought it was “harmless at first” since the faces had been blacked out.
https://www.facebook.com/diaozuihotline/posts/344484043564120
In the first photo, the woman in white just sat beside the man in red while she shared her earphone with the man in green. The uploader wrote “What is going on?” across the photo.
In the second photo, where the woman in white is seen resting her head on the shoulder of the man in red, the caption reads “It’s getting more complicated”.
Although the post has been taken down, mothership.sg says it had been shared more than 2,000 times within hours of its posting on Monday (Sept 28), with those commenting on it openly wondering about the relationships in the group.
While some comments were innocent enough, others used the term “polyamorous relationship” or speculated about who might be the boyfriend and girlfriend.
However, the people in the photos themselves came forward to clarify the matter, and they were not amused.
The woman in white wrote that the man in red was her father and the man in green was her brother. She asked: “May I know what’s wrong with sharing music with my bro and also fall asleep on my dad’s shoulder?”
She also demanded to know why her mother, who had been part of the group on the train ride, had been cropped out of the picture. “You come from a family that doesn’t love you and share things with you that’s why you felt this is complicated to you?” she asked.
The woman in green said the man in the black shirt was her boyfriend. She added: “Fyi, my AirPod got no batt, that’s why my BF share earpiece with his sister.”
The man in green wrote: “I’ve got a great gf, a pretty sister and loving family. Story of my life. Nothing much to explain.” /TISG