Gurmit Singh's wife defends daughter in open letter

Gurmit Singh's wife Melissa, has publicly defended her daughter Gabrielle's open criticism of fashion store Forever21.

She asserted that her daughter was not using her father's celebrity status to grab attention, as some netizens have claimed.

Madam Melissa Wong explained that the decision to share the post on Gurmit's Facebook page was made solely by her and her husband.

"This letter to you is simply to set the record straight, that our daughter was not being ‘attention seeking’ or that she was ‘bored’ or doesn’t have a life. She wrote the letter directly to the company. It was sent as an attachment to the company’s email link on its website, and she then post it on her personal blog where she discusses many issues that are close to her heart."

High-street fashion label, Forever21, has apologised to Gurmit Singh's daughter, Gabrielle, after she publicly criticised and boycotted the fashion store for playing songs with obscene lyrics. This was after her email to the management went unanswered.

The 17-year-old was shopping at the Somerset 313 outlet when she noticed that the store's playlist got "progressively derogative". She claimed that the songs were inappropriate for the shopping crowd in Forever21 as many were families with young children in tow.

Ms Singh explained, in a blog post on Oct 15, that the store should consider its brand image when it comes to playing such songs.

"I have a problem with the fact that your target audience is young girls and women, and yet somehow, for some alien reason, your store decided blasting horribly misogynistic, uncensored, woman shaming, woman-blaming lyrics would be a perfectly acceptable thing to do."

The Straits Times reported that Ms Singh's post first appeared a week ago on Tumblr before being shared by her father on his Facebook page on Wednesday. The Straits Times also understands that the Media Development Authority (MDA) does not regulate the playlist at retail outlets and shopping malls, but free-to-air radio broadcasters must ensure that songs played do not contain "vulgar" lyrics or promote "wrong" moral values and lifestyles.

The open letter has garnered mixed responses online leading some to claim that she is "making a mountain out of a molehill" while stirring up support in others. An online poll by The Strait Times revealed that almost 75 per cent of readers supported her action.

The New Paper reported that Gurmit had contacted the store manager and took down his post after the apology. He had also thanked his Facebook friends for sharing their sentiments. 

debwong@sph.com.sg