A 14-year-old girl was humiliated when a man squirted water and spat at her face during an audition with talent agency Premiere at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre on Monday (Apr 3).
Jerald, a contributor to citizen journalism website Stomp, filmed his daughter’s audition at the Melati Ballroom where she was required to act opposite a man in a scene where she discovers he is a fake officer from the “Department of Education”.
During the audition, the man squirted water from a bottle at Jerald’s daughter’s face, before spitting water at her as well.
Initially, she had been excited when she was called for a second round after her first audition on Saturday (Apr 1), and had even taken the day off from school to pursue her acting dreams, he told Stomp over the phone.
When Stomp asked Jerald whether the producers had given his daughter any warning that somebody would be squirting and spitting water at her during the audition, he replied that she had not been expecting that at all.
“She had expected a change in script but not anything that would involve making her feel insulted and humiliated,” said Jerald.
Completely shattered by the incident, Jerald’s daughter was crying when she told him she did not wish to go for the Premiere programme, even though she had been selected.
According to Premiere’s website, the company travels around the world searching for young performers between the ages of five and 20 to go through their evaluation process in order to be invited to the programme.
The programme, held in Orlando, Florida, “draws dozens of today’s top agents, managers, casting directors and record labels from across the globe looking to find their next discovery for upcoming projects.”
Jerald called up the company to ask why they had gone to such lengths during the audition. He said: “They mentioned it was to push her to her limits and ‘come out of the script’.”
He said that his daughter’s confidence has been affected by the episode. “Do you think this is acceptable?” he asked.
Visit STOMP for more stories.
