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Singapore's typically tame and undiscussed entertainment scene is in the thick of its latest saga.

Since developments have been reported almost every day for the past week, here's a condensed version of what went down (spoiler: Taiwanese star Patrick Lee's reputation).

How it started

The whole thing started when Ng went on Guo Liang's talkshow "The Inner Circle" on April 7, 2021.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNUmAbanO9w/

While in the hot seat, Ng revealed that he was once bullied by an Taiwanese actor on set.

While Ng did not name names, there were enough identifiers in the conversation that all eyes landed on one Patrick Lee, a name most Singaporeans had hitherto not heard of.

Lee is a 41-year-old actor host, model, and actor.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMmODMcsUDQ/

Heating up

In response to the accusations, Lee's management released the following statement:

"The truth speaks for itself. Staff who were on set can attest to what really happened, and we will not be commenting further on this matter."

Lee's agent also described the Taiwanese actor as "polite and gracious," and added that he does not believe such an incident had occurred between Lee and Ng.

Commenting further

The saga was further fuelled when Lee posted to his socials, sarcastically congratulating Ng for becoming "a little more famous".

"A single Taiwanese

goes [alone] to a place

where it's [all] Singaporeans

......... to bully a Singaporean?!?!

Where is the logic?

If you were the Taiwanese, would you do that??

(A series of emojis meant to convey annoyance and exaggerated distress)

[Congratulations on becoming slightly more famous]"

Ng replied with a post of his own:

None of the posts directly addressed each other.

Adding names to the mix

Here's where it gets slightly confusing, as more names join the fray.

At time of writing, these are the artistes who have spoken up on the subject, in chronological order:

• Danny Yeo, who corroborated Ng's experience and said that Lee once yelled at him to "get out" in front of an audience
• Dasmond Koh, who publicly called for Ng to clarify an "incident" with NoonTalk artiste Angel Lim while filming for 2018 TV series "Heart to Heart". Koh also mentioned in passing that Lee and Xu Bin had an unhappy working experience.
• Sora Ma, who opened up about being allegedly bullied by a veteran artiste on the set of "118 II". Although the interview was not directly related to the Ng vs. Lee saga, it touched on the same subject.
• The rest of the cast of "118 II", who spoke well of Ma when asked about the alleged bullying. While Chen Tianwen affirmed that the bullying did transpire, some of the artistes, such as Chen Hanwei, Liu Lingling, Zhu Houren, and Brandon Wong, did not. Chew Chor Meng and Dennis Chew did not reply Shin Min's queries, and Pan Lingling replied that she was unable to pick up the phone as she was at a styling session.

Back to Ng

So: How is Ng taking all this?

Shortly after Koh's post, Ng uploaded another cryptic post to his social media accounts.

Ng's manager has also released a statement to the media, specifically addressing Koh's posts:

"We are in conversation with NoonTalk and is finding out more. After all, it’s been more than three years. The best way forward is for both artistes involved to have a private and constructive dialogue. Thank you."

No leeway

Lee, on his end, does not appear to be letting up on the issue.

In the days after his initial post sniping at Ng, the Taiwanese actor continued his social media postings.

The posts, in order, show him:

• Criticising Singaporean media and netizens
• Receiving heartfelt messages from fans who have had a positive encounter with him
• Biting back at a netizen who commented, "No smoke without fire..."

How it's going

The saga has turned into a wider conversation on bullying within the entertainment industry, in part precipitated by the dogged pursuits of Singapore's Chinese media, who has been interviewing numerous artistes on the subject.

Top image via Elvin Ng and Patrick Lee's Instagram accounts