US comedian Sammy Obeid's censorship claim 'completely fictional': Edwin Tong

The authorities are considering taking further action against what Law Minister Edwin Tong said was a "completely fictional" account of events put out by Lebanese-Palestinian American comedian Sammy Obeid over his cancelled stand-up shows here.

The Straits Times understands this could involve using the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, Singapore's fake news law.

Mr Tong, who is also Second Minister for Home Affairs, was responding on Aug 31 to the comedian's claims of censorship over elements in his cancelled performance at Victoria Theatre that would have been critical of Israel's actions in Gaza.

"Let me be clear - there was not a single edit requested by IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority) on the script," Mr Tong told reporters at Siglap South Community Centre.

"In fact, there were no communications with Mr Obeid on the script, and his own agent has confirmed this. So what Mr Obeid has described simply did not happen. Why he has done so? I don't know," he added.

The minister reiterated that the sole reason that Mr Obeid's application for a performance permit was rejected was that it came in too late. He added: "The rules say that licence applications have to be submitted 40 working days to IMDA before a show is put up. In this case, he applied on Aug 15 for a show on Aug 31. That is about 30 days late."

Mr Obeid has denied lying. On Aug 31, he posted a video on Instagram in which an unidentified person tells him over the phone to remove "anything that has to do with Palestine and Israel".

"They've given us until 3pm today," the person is heard saying in another video clip that was posted. This was after Mr Obeid agreed to making edits to his script for the Singapore shows, which were meant to be held on Aug 31.

The comedian did not say in his post when the videos were taken, nor did he identify the person on the phone.

He has previously said that a local representative organising the show took over correspondence with IMDA after Mr Obeid first contacted the authority directly in July.

Claiming that he had spoken to other artistes and producers who had made successful late applications, Mr Obeid wrote: "Even if the issue was just that my submission was 'late', then why was I asked to make revisions before it was ultimately rejected?"

This latest exchange came after contrasting accounts were made earlier by IMDA and Mr Obeid about the circumstances leading to the abrupt cancellation of the comedian's Singapore shows.

In an Instagram post on Aug 27, Mr Obeid described multiple rounds of script editing that ultimately led to his performance licence application being rejected.

While he did not name IMDA, the comedian implied that it was the Singapore authorities that asked for the edits.

IMDA refuted this on Aug 28, saying that it never requested edits of the script. It said it had rejected the show because the application from Mr Obeid's local representative was made on Aug 15 at 11.57pm - 10 working days before the comedian was due to perform.

An arts entertainment licence is required for a wide range of public performances in Singapore, including theatre, dance, art exhibitions, literary readings and stand-up comedy.

IMDA is the designated authority for this process, and has the power to request alterations to scripts before they are approved.

On Aug 31, the authority set out its timeline of events on social media, noting that Mr Obeid's personal assistant had e-mailed IMDA on July 8 to ask about the application process. The authority replied the next day with details.

The next set of communications was on Aug 15, between the authority and Mr Obeid's local agent, when the application was made, IMDA said.

The agent was told on Aug 19 that the application was rejected because of its tardiness, and made an appeal on Aug 20. IMDA replied on Aug 25 that the appeal was rejected.

An IMDA spokesperson said in a separate statement on Aug 31 that the agent had told the authority she was unaware that the comedian would make the claims that he did. IMDA said the agent also told the authority that she had e-mails and recordings showing that she had repeatedly reminded him that the application was late and that no script edits were required.

Neither Mr Obeid nor the authorities have disclosed who the local agent was. It is also unclear why Mr Obeid had submitted a script, when stand-up comedy performances are categorised as unscripted under IMDA's framework. The comedian did not address this in his latest post.

Stand-up performers are typically required to submit a synopsis and a video recording of the performance rehearsal or one of a similar show that they have done before, rather than a fully realised script from which they are not allowed to deviate.

Mr Obeid had said on Aug 27 that he was warned about the difficulty of putting on a stand-up show in Singapore, claiming he was told that a script had to be submitted for approval.

He said he initially submitted a 10-page "heavily censored script" that referenced Palestine a few times and mentioned Israel once. But this was rejected, he said, with instructions to remove all mentions of Palestine and Israel, and portions relating to audience engagement during the show.

Mr Obeid had been booked for two shows in the 614-seat Victoria Theatre at 6pm and 8.30pm on Aug 31, and had apparently sold more than 1,000 tickets, ST reported previously.

The comedian's cancelled Singapore stop was part of an Asia tour that will take him to 10 other cities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.

After the shows here were cancelled, Singapore ticket holders were informed that they could exchange their tickets for tickets elsewhere.