Singapore court hears case over viral vending machine straw prank
Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien faced Singapore charges after filming himself licking a straw from an iJooz machine and putting it back, a prank that could carry prison time.
Singapore’s State Courts were handling the case of Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, the 19-year-old French national accused of filming himself licking a straw from an iJooz vending machine and putting it back at a mall in Singapore. The stunt, which spread widely on social media, drew attention far beyond the city-state because it collided with one of the world’s most tightly enforced public-order systems.
Maximilien faced charges of mischief and public nuisance. Singapore law treats both offenses seriously, and the mischief charge alone can carry up to two years in prison and a fine. Public nuisance cases are tied to the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act 1906, a statute that underpins a broad range of conduct rules in a country that has long paired its tourism pitch with strict social control.
His lawyers said Maximilien was “truly sorry” for causing trouble. That apology came against the backdrop of a case that had already been moved off its original schedule, with one court report saying the hearing was postponed to July 30. Another report said a judge granted him permission on April 29, 2026, to leave Singapore for three weeks after pledging to return.
The episode has become a test case for how Singapore handles online spectacle when it crosses into criminal conduct. The video showed a prank involving a straw taken from an iJooz machine outside a mall, a detail that turned a minor-seeming act into a public example of the country’s low tolerance for behavior that can be seen as tainting shared spaces or undermining public hygiene.
For visitors, the case underscored a practical reality: Singapore’s rules are not only about keeping streets orderly, but also about enforcing norms that many travelers from more permissive countries might treat as trivial. In Singapore, a social-media stunt is not insulated by its online life once it becomes a physical act in public, and prosecutors can fold that behavior into charges that carry real jail exposure.
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