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Amos Yee's grandfather would like to see his grandson again if the latter is deported back to Singapore, he said in an interview with Lianhe Wanbao.
Yee, 21, was charged with solicitation and possession of child porn in the U.S. after he allegedly exchanged nude photos and thousands of messages with a 14-year-old Texas girl while he was living in Chicago.
He fled to the U.S. in December 2016, and was granted asylum there.
If convicted of his charges, he could be stripped of his asylum status and be deported.
Grandfather wants to see him again
Yee's 80-year-old paternal grandfather told Wanbao on Sunday, Oct. 18, that his grandson had not contacted him even once since he left Singapore.
He also said he only learnt of the charges against the younger Yee when he saw the news on Sunday morning. He said:
"Amos is my only grandson, he often lived with us (grandparents) when he was in primary school.
My wife and I really love him, we were heartbroken when we saw that he was charged."
Yee's grandfather continued to say that after Yee grew up, he grew distant from his grandparents, adding that he had not informed them when he left for the U.S. and applied for asylum.
The elderly Yee said: "I realised that he hadn't visited us for a whole month. I only learned that he flew to the U.S. after I asked my daughter-in-law."
He revealed that while he tried numerous times to contact his grandson, the latter did not respond to his messages over the last three years.
Advice from grandparents fell on deaf ears
He continued to say that he and his wife often advised the younger Yee not to be "too radical" when making comments on the Internet.
But their grandson had always responded by saying: "Old people like you can't understand, you are too backward-looking!"
Yee's grandfather said his family actually do not approve of the comments he made online as they think the opinions were too radical and could easily provoke strong reactions.
"Every time we tried to speak to him, he would say that we are old and behind in our thinking," he sighed.
"We really couldn't do anything about him."
He continued: "Perhaps this child wanted to prove himself to his family so bad that he behaved the way he did."
Yee's mother sent money to him while he was in the U.S.
Yee's grandfather further shared that Yee enjoys a good relationship with his mother, adding that his mother had sent him money for the past three years.
But she rarely talked about Yee with her father-in-law, and the latter had refrained from asking her as well.
He said: "He (Amos) wasn't that close to his dad."
Yee had previously claimed that his father had been abusive to him during his childhood.
Yee was jailed for four weeks in prison for "wounding religious feelings" of Christians and Muslims in 2015.
An Institute of Mental Health child psychiatrist, Cai Yiming, who interviewed and observed Yee over two weeks, concluded that he had no mental disorder.
Cai explained that early access to the Internet, and early fame or success led to over-confidence and self-centredness on Yee's part, adding that he thought highly of himself and showed "scant regard to the feelings of others and [focused] on his needs most of the time".
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Top image adapted via Chicago Police & Lianhe Wanbao