Aussie sacked from job in Singapore after angry Pokemon rant on Facebook
An angry outburst over Pokemon has seen an Australian ex-pat booted from his new job at a Singapore property website.
Sonny Truyen labelled his recently adopted country a “f**king piece of s**t because it was lagging behind Australia, New Zealand and the US in the release of the popular Pokemon Go app.
“You can’t catch f**king Pokemon in this f**king piece of s**t country,” he wrote over the weekend.
The statement clearly offended one Facebook user who promptly took Mr Truyen to task.
“Why would you call Singapore a f**king piece of s**t country?” she wrote.
“Are you living in Singapore?”
Screenshots of the exchange reveal an angry response from Mr Truyen, who labeled the woman stupid, before saying Singaporeans could not read and were only good at “mouthing off”.
The woman told Mr Truyen he should leave Singapore, saying she had never met another Australian who would “bash another country like that.”
She warned Mr Truyen he was entering dangerous legal territory. Singapore is notoriously protective of its public image and insults against the government and royal family can prove extremely risky.
The woman told Mr Truyen his comments had been reported.
The exchange did not sit well with Mr Truyen’s new employer, Singapore property site 99.co, which quickly sacked him.
Chief executive officer Darius Cheung also issued a long public apology on the company’s website.
“About 24 hours ago, we were alerted by a user that one of our consultants, Sonny Truyen, demonstrated rude behaviour on a Facebook thread,” 99.co chief exethe statement read.
“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.”
The statement said Mr Truyen had only worked for the company for one week.
Brandingasia.com reports Mr Truyen has previously worked with eBay, First Rate and iCar Asia Limited. He has also worked in Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Australia.
The site said Mr Truyen described himself as a ““battle tested digital marketer with ten years’ experience directing marketing & technology teams at global arena. Proven history of marketing game changing products in e-commerce, technology & automotive industries with violent efficiency across multiple regions.”
According to his Facebook page, Mr Truyen is originally from Melbourne and studied internet systems and commerce.
The “augmented reality” game Pokemon Go has quickly become a worldwide phenomenon, eclipsing sales records for other popular mobile apps.
Based off of the long running Nintendo Pokemon franchise, the app allows players to venture into the real world, with smartphones using GPS technology and its camera to insert Pokemon characters into reality so players can catch and train them.
