Showbiz big shots they may be, but local funnyman Gurmit Singh is a father to teenage children too, and he weighed in on the affairs of 16-year-old Amos Yee, who was arrested and charged for making strongly worded remarks against the late Lee Kuan Yew and Christianity in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel.
In an interview with SPH Razor, Singh maintains that the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of his parents, who he believes are supposed to guide the child and stop yielding to their child's demands. "I've always told my wife and my kids that whenever I see a child misbehaving, 90 percent of the time I would blame the parents".
Singh's own teenage daughter Gabrielle also made headlines last year, but for more noble reasons than Yee — she slammed fashion company Forever 21 for playing "misogynistic rap music" in their stores here in a viral post on her blog.
Singh continues to note today's well-informed and wired generation, who grow up exposed to the internet and social media — and also the ever-increasing importance of parents to monitor and guide their offspring. "We, as in intellect, are prospering so fast and so much in a good way. But if we don't cultivate it, and don't guide it, it can go very wrong," he remarks in the interview.
The comedian should know; after being in the show business for 20 years with Mediacorp, he left the company last year to spend more time with his family.
Photo: Gurmit Singh Facebook page
Showbiz big shots they may be, but local funnyman Gurmit Singh is a father to teenage children too, and he weighed in on the affairs of 16-year-old Amos Yee, who was arrested and charged for making strongly worded remarks against the late Lee Kuan Yew and Christianity in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel.
In an interview with SPH Razor, Singh maintains that the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of his parents, who he believes are supposed to guide the child and stop yielding to their child's demands. "I've always told my wife and my kids that whenever I see a child misbehaving, 90 percent of the time I would blame the parents".
Singh's own teenage daughter Gabrielle also made headlines last year, but for more noble reasons than Yee — she slammed fashion company Forever 21 for playing "misogynistic rap music" in their stores here in a viral post on her blog.
Singh continues to note today's well-informed and wired generation, who grow up exposed to the internet and social media — and also the ever-increasing importance of parents to monitor and guide their offspring. "We, as in intellect, are prospering so fast and so much in a good way. But if we don't cultivate it, and don't guide it, it can go very wrong," he remarks in the interview.
The comedian should know; after being in the show business for 20 years with Mediacorp, he left the company last year to spend more time with his family.
Photo: Gurmit Singh Facebook page