Is this the end of YouTube outfit, Night Owl Cinematics?

Screen grab from the 2020 NOC video announcing the divorce between founders, Sylvia and Ryan (Photo credit: YouTube)

The negative spotlight has returned to Night Owl Cinematics (NOC) and one of its founders, CEO Sylvia Chan, with yet another exposé. This time, the leaked content is from the blog, #EndTheSilence. In a post by a group of current and former NOC employees titled ‘Speaking Up About NOC Sylvia’s Alleged Crimes’ , the misdeeds of Chan are unravelled and supported by documentation.

A Facebook post by Fathership (yes, Fathership), succinctly collates the highlights of the allegations:

1. misappropriation of company funds to the tune of $80K+ for personal needs

2. intent to deceive the Government to procure grants worth $50K

3. pimping out a drunk NOC talent to the boss of a courier company for sex in exchange for commercial sponsorships

(Fathership has emailed the courier company in question to ascertain if the male individual involved has been delivering extra ‘packages’ other than Taobao. He has not responded.)

4. fradulently appointing her Malaysian brother as a shadow employee of NOC so she can obtain for him Permanent Residency (PR)

5. comitting adultery while her husband was overseas

Fathership appears to be some kind of knockoff of the popular Mothership website, so I’m not certain how credible it is. But, the article is simply a straight report of the #EndTheSilence blog post.

Bad press started around early October

Chan appeared to have closed the chapter during the initial wave of bad press on her abusive management style, courtesy of leaked screengrabs and recordings published starting late September on social media account @Sgcickenrice. In a long letter, she apologised for her behaviour and switched the focus to youth mental health. A lawyer’s letter was issued to the owner/s of @Sgcickenrice and those earlier posts were removed.

The Straits Times even ran a story about the apology and other Mediacorp’s 8 Days magazine re-shared a story from Chan’s ‘Hear U Out’ interview.

So, all that seemed to have solved the PR crisis for the time being. The fresh allegations, however, are potentially more damning on Chan and her character.

Will things implode for NOC?

In my opinion, Chan must have really ticked of some determined current employees and former employees who are coordinating this takedown of her. NOC has reportedly lost thousands of subscribers, according to a Mothership report. While the ‘pimping’ stories and locker room screengrabs are juicy, the allegations into fraud and misappropriation by Chan could be damaging, if investigated.

Whatever the damage, the company’s reputation has certainly tanked and attracting talent may become a problem.

The cracks within the company were apparent to many when the two founders, Chan and her ex-husband Ryan Tan, announced their divorce in 2020. NOC was started by in 2013. In the early years, they became famous for their YouTube skits such as “17 Types of Ah Lians” and “Shit Singaporean XXX Say” videos.

In more recent years, NOC appears to be more focused on house tours and food reviews videos.

Prior to the allegations involving Chan, NOC were mentioned in the news when one of their talents, Dee Kosh, was embroiled in accusations over sexual harassment: