French student fined S$600 for viral straw licking stunt

A French student was fined 600 Singapore dollars (approximately $465) in a Singapore court on Thursday, July 30, 2026, after pleading guilty to a public nuisance charge for a social media stunt involving a vending machine straw. Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 19, admitted to filming himself taking a straw from an iJooz orange juice machine, licking it, and returning it to the dispenser before posting the video online.

The incident occurred on March 12 at the Goldhill Centre following a boxing session. Maximilien, who is studying business in Singapore, later edited and uploaded the footage to his Instagram account with a caption reading "city is not safe." The video went viral after someone within his Instagram circle recorded and forwarded it to a media outlet, triggering public backlash and leading to his arrest.

Prosecutors described the act as a staged social media stunt that risked undermining public confidence in the hygiene of a commonly used service. They noted, however, that the offense was at the "lower end" of seriousness because Maximilien retrieved the contaminated straw himself for his own drink, meaning no member of the public used it, and there was no evidence of...