Creepy clown masks are displayed at a Halloween store in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, U.S. October 20, 2016.
Creepy clown masks are displayed at a Halloween store in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, U.S. October 20, 2016. Reuters/Brendan McDermid

The killer clown craze apparently knows no boundaries and has even reached the Lion City. A 19-year-old student in Singapore is now facing outrage from local authorities and fellow citizens after his poor Halloween stunt.

Joel Wong’s last couple of days have been rough following a Halloween gag that backfired. Wong figured he’d have some fun when he decided to don a killer clown costume and record himself while sneaking up on locals on the street. His trick might have worked and may have even terrorised a number of people had he done it in the US, but Singapore is a different story. Wong was instead detained at a police station for six hours of interrogation.

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According to Mothership Singapore, Wong and his friends caught the attention of the police while they were doing their gag. The officers took down their ID numbers and warned them about posting the video online, which is a basis for complaint filing and police reporting. But Wong insisted and chose to upload the recording on YouTube nonetheless, perhaps hoping for it to go viral like so many killer clown videos before it.

Wong has since deleted the video from the site. According to Mothership Singapore, though, the prank was done poorly and that “aside from being mildly startled, no one really screamed their heads off or made a run for it.” But because Singapore laws are very strict, authorities dropped by Wong’s house and picked him up for questioning. Wong explained the ordeal in a six-minute long apology video he uploaded on YouTube.

Watch Joel Wong's apology

“The police came to my house at about 1pm today and they took me in to the police precinct for an interview. I was there for about six hours. They interrogated me and my friends. I guess I got what I deserve,” said Wong says in his apology video. He also mentioned that he removed the prank video because authorities asked him to do so. Wong was condemned by fellow citizens and received a considerable amount of negative comments online.

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