International Student in Singapore Sparks Outrage With Racist Instagram Posts

December 7, 2020

An Instagram user, believed to be a student at the ESSEC Business School in Singapore, has sparked outrage for posting an image of herself making the racist slant-eye gesture.

Facing backlash: User @louisepzn can be seen wearing a Chinese traditional outfit known as a qipao while doing the gesture meant to insult Asian people.

The Independent noted that the image may have been captured from the Supreme Court building on the other side of the Singapore River.
The still-unidentified student is said to be French but no other information about her has emerged so far.
On Friday, user @beforeik.o drew attention to @louisepzn’s post and demanded an apology from her.
“We welcome you to our country, but if you’re going to act like a racist a!@hole about it, kindly f*** off and unfollow me,” she wrote.
She also posted screenshots of another post where the offending user used the racial slur “ching chong.”
“New year ching chong with my gow sure!” the student wrote during Chinese New Year 2020.

Defending ignorance: When confronted by @beforeik.o via a private message, the student refused to accept that what she did was racist because “Chinese people make surgeries to have European eyes.”

“I am clearly not racist what is wrong, it is just a picture for fun,” she responded. “Chinese people make surgeries to have European eyes and this is racism !??? I don’t think so. If we are in a world where every pictures or answer is turned into racism, it is no living anymore.”
In response, @beforeik.o advised the student to educate herself, remove the post and apologize if she was “smart enough.”

However, the student continued to defend the post, saying she did not need any advice since she had a master’s degree from Harvard University about ethnicity at work.
@beforeik.o reported the student’s actions to ESSEC Business School via an email in which she attached screenshots of the racist posts.
Kentia Boulay, ESSEC Asia Pacific’s Director of Academic Affairs, responded by acknowledging that the students’ post is indeed inappropriate, adding that the matter will be looked into by the school’s discipline committee.
@louisepzn’s post can no longer be found online as the account itself appears to have been set to private and changed the Instagram handle to @louisegzn.
The new handle posted an apology but @beforeik.o immediately berated it for being pathetic and insincere, while also criticizing ESSEC for not being able to help the student write a proper apology.
NextShark has also reached out to Harvard to verify Louise’s claims.

Featured Image via @beforeik.o

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