Singapore hawker demands apology from ex-actor Huang Yiliang over alleged defamatory remarks

A five-second video posted on the SingaporeSpeaks subreddit on May 6 showed Huang arguing with a woman in red, the Straits Times reported.

The video shows the pair, who run neighboring food stalls at Circuit Road Hawker Center, pointing at each other and exchanging insults in Hokkien.

The woman in the video, Enah, said the dispute happened on a Sunday afternoon in early April. She claimed that Huang entered her food preparation area while shouting and pointing at her.

The 50-year-old declined to explain what had caused the argument, adding that she and Huang were previously on friendly terms despite rarely speaking.

According to Shin Min Daily NewsEnah said she often chats with a group of male friends in front of her stall. She alleged that Yiliang referred to the men as her “lovers” and called her a “chicken”, a Mandarin slang term for a prostitute.

Enah said Huang’s remarks made her feel uncomfortable as a married woman and demanded that he publicly apologize to her.

“Am I not allowed to have male friends?” she said. “I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to speak to him unless he wants to apologise. When he says such things about me, he needs to say sorry publicly.”

She added that she has installed a surveillance camera at her stall to gather evidence in case another dispute occurs.

Huang told local outlet Stomp that Enah’s allegations were “fabricated” and declined to discuss the matter further. He was also quoted as saying he maintains a good relationship with neighboring stall owners, with some describing him as “friendly.”

Huang, 64, joined Mediacorp, then known as Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, in 1985 and later won the Star Awards’ Best Supporting Actor prize three times. He left the broadcaster in 2008 to start a plumbing business and a movie production company. His food stall, Old Fisherman, opened in Feb. 2026 and specializes in dishes with crab.

In 2021, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail for assaulting an employee. Three years later, Huang was fined S$3,000 and banned from driving for five years after colliding with a cyclist, leaving the victim with a fractured elbow.