Very free but cash-strapped Singaporean teenager, Amos Yee, has turned to his Facebook followers to ask for money.

This was after Yee, 18, was freed from detention on Sept. 26, from a Chicago detention centre and now lives in the United States having won his asylum bid:

Needs $400 to $600 a month

Yee's Nov. 2 post can be read as a shameless solicitation for donations from his followers.

In it, he wrote that he is left with $1,000, which he estimates will run out in two months.

At the moment, he estimates he needs $400 to $600 a month for food as he does not need to pay rent.

Lived off crowdfunded money and ad dollars

He admitted to living off crowdfunded donations and advertising dollars made from his YouTube videos for the past two years while in Singapore.

According to him, every 1,000 views on YouTube earns him $1 from ads. He believes he needs 400,000 views a month to sustain his present lifestyle.

In the last 10 months he was put under detention in the US, he was not able to make new videos and could not profit from this venture.

And during his detention, more than $8,000 was raised for his lawyer fees and food in jail, but it was apparently not enough. He said he still owes $4,000 to one person.

[related_story]

Blames circumstances

According to the contents of his post, Yee justifies his turning to asking for donations as a result of circumstances.

He said advertisers stopped putting ads on some of his YouTube content that is considered controversial and half of his videos have been demonetised.

Rather not work

In the event no one makes donations to him, Yee said that he would rather borrow money from people who are willing to lend him something than look for a job:

Most people wouldn’t do that, they’d detest the very idea of not being financially-independent and a ‘low-life’ relying on someone. But to me, it’s very important that I lead the kind of life I want and do the things I love, a part-time job that takes hours off your day ruins that. The feeling of ‘shamelessness’ on relying on others for money is much more worth making half your life or more of your life miserable, at least for me.

Yee also wrote that he would like to use the money to travel, buy video games and eat cake.

Reactions

Oddly enough, there were more hostile reactions than receptive ones on his post.

However, they mainly fell into these two categories:

Hostile

Receptive