Oops! Ronan Keating found himself in a bit of a situation after he shared a misleading post on Instagram earlier this week.
In his now-deleted post, he said, “A snap shot of some of the Tankers in Singapore not allowed to dock because of the virus.”
The post was reportedly taken from airplane of the anchorage off the Marina Bay area to the south of Singapore’s Central Business District. The Irish frontman was unaware that this is exactly what one of the busiest ports in the world offshore Singapore looks like – 365 days a year (well 366, since 2020 is a leap year).
Many netizens in Singapore were triggered and proceeded to blast him on social media. The singer-songwriter was trolled with quotes from his own songs. “You say it best when you say nothing at all,” one commented. Another wrote, “Ronan Keating will have learnt that life really is a rollercoaster after being corrected“.
The city-state’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) also took to their platform to dispute Keating’s claim, explaining that no ships had been turned away due to the coronavirus and it is usually this busy.
“Every 2-3 minutes, a ship arrives or leaves Singapore. At any one time, there are about 1,000 ships in the Port!” MPA was quoted as saying. They also signed off the post with the hashtag #WeCouldntSayNothingAtAll in a jokey reference to the pop star’s smash hit.
To his credit, Keating – who turned 43 yesterday – reposted the same image to admit his mistake and publicly apologies for assuming. “I recently posted this pic after being told by a local in Singapore that the reason they were all parked up was due to the Virus. I have been recently informed that this is not true and that this is how the harbour always looks,” he wrote.
The singer continued, “I apologise if I offended anyone in my post you all know I would never purposefully do that. To all you haters out there, get on with your short life. I went to Singapore and did a gig when others were cancelling and the same in Jakarta. I feel very blessed to be able to do what I do. Peace and love to all and wash your hands.”
Regardless of the drama, Keating seems to be enjoying his birthday.
