Acclaimed DJ swears off returning to Zouk Singapore, blames Malaysian premier's son
SINGAPORE -- The son of Malaysia's prime minister has found himself in the centre of a social media storm, after an angry DJ stormed off his set at Singapore's iconic Zouk nightclub and blamed it on him and Zouk's management.
Over the weekend, Fadi Wassef Naguib, half of world-acclaimed Egyptian trance duo Aly & Fila, paused his set to announce over the sound system that he was asked to stop playing to make way for someone else to spin -- "the son of a prime minister", he said.
The person in question is Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak's youngest son, Norashman Najib, who was present that night.
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In the clip, you can hear Fadi saying: "I would like to play more, but it seems that Zouk here wants someone else to play... He's the son of a prime minister... Thank you so much, enjoy my last track, I will see you somewhere in the future, not in Zouk anymore, I will not play for Zouk any f**king more, they insulted me, but I love you guys."
Both Zouk and Rizal Mansor, Norashman's mother's aide, have since responded to deny the DJ's rant -- but Fadi has maintained in a new clarification posted Tuesday that he was not mistaken about the night's events.
After the video of Fadi's rant went viral, Zouk issued an official statement denying it on Monday afternoon.
In the post, Zouk points out that Fadi was not interrupted "prematurely", but that he ended his set after 3:30 a.m., as stipulated in his contract with the club.
Hours later, Rizal Mansor, who is the aide to Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, posted on Facebook, stressing that Norashman did not request to kick Fadi off, but that he played upon invitation by the club.
According to a local report translating Rizal's post, he said: "Taking into account that it was an acknowledgment of his talent and hobby, Ashman agreed to do the performance... The misunderstanding was between the two parties, it had nothing to do with (Norashman)."
But on Tuesday morning, the DJ posted a pointed takedown of the management's denial of what happened.
Addressing Zouk's point on Fadi's "contracted time", the DJ said that he started spinning at 1:40 a.m. and was initially told that he would be able to play till the club closed, at about 4:30 a.m.. But shortly after 3:30 a.m., the management stopped him saying they had to make way for Norashman.
"I just wanted to let our fans who payed (sic) money to see me know the reason why I stopped my set and I didn't play the 3 hours like every time I have been there," Fadi said.
Zouk's Facebook page is filled with livid comments from Singaporeans who are demanding an apology to Fadi.
Najib's office hasn't issued an official statement addressing the situation.
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Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
