Mention NOC or Sylvia Chan these days, and chances are someone knows something about the saga that’s been dominating local headlines in recent weeks. In a nutshell, co-founder Sylvia Chan of NOC (Night Owl Cinematics), a Youtube video company, was alleged to have been mistreating employees, and then it ballooned into a major circus that involved sexual allegations and misappropriation of funds.
Not too long after, Sylvia’s filing police reports for death threats against her. There was apparently also a sex video in the mix.
On Sunday, she gave her side of the story in a 2-hour interview on Youtube where she addressed a lot of the issues. These include the allegations of a sex tape (she’s admitted that she wouldn’t do such a thing and quoted her friend saying, “It’s not you, the boobs are the wrong size.”) and revealing that Ryan had a lot to do with the issues surrounding not just the good-cop-bad-cop manpower issues, but also about their (seemingly) rocky 10-year marriage.
She also revealed that the company has since lost about $250,000 in deals in the first week. If you haven’t been in on this saga, here’s a brief rundown.
It all started with @sgcickenrice
On Oct 7, Instagram account @sgcickenrice first published screenshots of text messages that were allegedly from Sylvia using abusive language towards employees. The messages, apparently from early 2020, appeared to show her using expletives several times when talking about Samantha Tan, using words like “f*ck face”. There was also a recording of someone who’s supposedly Sylvia calling Samantha a “btch who’s fcking dumb”.
Samantha was one of the talents at NOC, and the winner of kNOCk Out Season 1, the company’s talent scouting show.
Other anonymous staff members were also used to hearing abusive language from Sylvia, according to receipts shared by @sgcickenrice. One of NOC’s videographers, Bryant, was sent an audio message which said, “Bryant, you have 30 mins before the whole world crashes on you and you f*cking die” because he was told to hit a deadline.
Amid the allegations, 2 companies that NOC worked with – Colgate and Milo – terminated their contracts on Oct 9. Understandably, the post caused significant backlash with netizens, prompting Sylvia/NOC to issue a cease & desist lawyer letter to @sgcickenrice on Oct 11. Former and current staff members also received a letter that detailed the need for NOC’s written consent before any external communication.
Sylvia later apologised in a statement on Oct 13, acknowledging that she “did not live up to the standards expected of her” and that she would be removed from NOC’s line-up of artistes.
Reveal-all blog post & video surfaced
On Oct 19, a group of current and former NOC employees, posted a blog post titled “Speaking Up About NOC Sylvia’s Alleged Crimes” on #EndTheSilence, with a video of what appeared to be an old NOC online meeting. In the video, Ryan presented issues NOC staff faced, from the long working hours (till 4am) to talents not being paid on time.
The Zoom meeting also revealed that Sylvia was using NOC staff to help her in her own side business ventures, like having staff pack masks at her residence and getting designers to design the logo for her brother’s restaurant business. Throughout the meeting, Sylvia was seen to be nonchalant, calling Ryan’s concerns “personal grievances” many times.
Since the video and allegations surfaced, Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (Tafep) said they were in touch with NOC to look into the matter.
Sylvia, sexual favours, and prostitution
When news broke out on Deekosh’s allegations, NOC’s management conducted a formal investigation to ensure their staff wasn’t facing sexual harassment issues. But it seemed that Sylvia herself was involved in sexual harassment when she tried to barter for free courier service (for another one of her side businesses) in exchange for sexual favours… from one of her female staff members.
According to the blog post, she was literally pimping her staff out – Sylvia allegedly managed to secure the courier service for free.
Using NOC to fund Sylvia’s brother’s PR application
The blog also detailed how Sylvia was also alleged to have been using NOC’s money to pay her brother Sikeen’s salary so he could obtain Permanent Residency (PR). It’s unclear who received the money, as staff have confirmed that he doesn’t work for NOC.
Enter Preetipls
A leaked WhatsApp chat showed how Sylvia demanded that her staff discuss Preetipls’ wardrobe in a public chat, saying “she’s clearly fat” and using the words “rhinoceros” in her reply. Not known to shy away from controversy, Preetipls took this opportunity to use the word “rhino”as a promo code for free shipping off all Singapore orders for merch on her website.
Sylvia gets harassed; files complaints
Amidst the allegations, Sylvia has herself allegedly been a victim of harassment. She’s filed police reports and a Magistrate’s Complaint, citing a “concerted and coordinated effort to discredit and disparage” her through incessant harassment, hacking of her emails, loss of access to NOC’s finances, death threats, as well as a sex video (no details were released on that).
A spokesman for Ms Chan said that some allegations had been “skilfully edited to conveniently leave out portions so that a false narrative could be published to the public” and that she intends to “thoroughly rebut” every allegation against her “in due course”.
Sylvia breaks silence in Xiaxue interview
In an emotional 2-hour interview with YouTuber Xiaxue that was posted over the weekend, she addressed allegations of employee overwork. While Sylvia felt that it was unfair to be blamed for this because she had to ensure that projects were submitted, she also said that there were times when staff were “slacking around” when there was no clients.
When addressing rumours about her infidelity, Sylvia revealed that Tan cheated on her in the early years of their marriage. Ryan and Sylvia co-created NOC in 2013, and the two finalised their divorce in 2020 after 10 years of marriage. “We never had a happy marriage because he has had something to do with the girls in NOC,” she sniffed. Before they parted ways, Tan admitted that he had “a crush on a few girls,” according to Sylvia.
Some netizens who watched the interview felt that Sylvia was blaming Ryan for a lot of the issues, and that the interview should’ve included Ryan and some other NOC staff for a balanced picture.
With this interview, it seems that the NOC saga will continue for a while.
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