Street performer harassed by a man, demanding for a $2 refund after song requests

SINGAPORE: A street performer was harassed by a man who kept on requesting songs and refused to leave. The incident happened outside The Clementi Mall, and it seemed that the man refused to leave the performer alone and also requested a refund. 

The performer reported to Shin Min Daily News that when he started playing, he noticed that a man in white was sitting about one meter away from him. The man then approached him and requested a Mandarin song. Since the performer was unfamiliar with the song, the man then suggested a Christmas carol. 

“I sang one song, and he put a coin into the tip box,” the performer stated. After performing a few more songs, the man once again walked towards the performer and showed him a song list from his phone. He then asked the performer to sing a song he did not recognise. 

With this, the performer suggested singing another Christmas song from the playlist, but the man started to get annoyed and raised his voice. 

A video showed that the man kept repeating that he had ‘paid’ to request songs and kept filming the performer with his phone. With this, the security guards from the mall called the police after realising that the scene caused a disturbance to other members of the public. 

Several officers arrived at the scene to investigate. When they questioned the man, he declared that he wanted his $2 back. The performer then pointed out that the man had only put one coin. Furthermore, the performer remarked that the man continued to yell at him during the incident, saying: “You’re just performing on the street, you shouldn’t be getting paid!” 

The police officers left the scene after mediating the situation, but the performer said that the man kept loitering around, filming, complaining on his phone, and even took photos of his personal information. 

“Although he didn’t come forward to argue anymore, he kept making various moves until he finally left,” the performer said. 

In other news involving artists, a local singer went on a tour to Chengdu, China, with his family and friends. Unfortunately, they were not allowed to leave several stores included in the tour until they reached a certain amount to spend, which angered them and prompted them to report the incident to the authorities. 

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