{"id":21965,"date":"2026-07-30T11:30:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21965"},"modified":"2026-07-30T11:30:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:30:56","slug":"french-student-didier-gaspard-owen-maximilien-pleads-guilty-to-straw-licking-stunt-in-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21965","title":{"rendered":"French student Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien pleads guilty to straw-licking stunt in Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2Fnewspress-collage-0hwjp8ibk-1785389120596.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261785374755\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A French student was fined $465 after pleading guilty Thursday to a public nuisance charge in Singapore for filming himself <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/30\/world-news\/french-teen-charged-in-singapore-over-a-vending-machine-straw-licking-video\/\">licking a straw from an orange juice vending machine<\/a> and putting it back in what lawyers described as a social media stunt.<\/p>\n<p>Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 19, admitted to licking the straw and returning it to the vending machine while recording the act for his online followers.<\/p>\n<p>It happened at a shopping mall in March and he was\u00a0charged in April\u00a0after his video spread rapidly.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien and his lawyer arrived at the State Courts in Singapore before he pleaded guilty  on July 30, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another charge of mischief was taken into consideration during sentencing.<\/p>\n<p>The court imposed the fine and did not order any community-based sentence after considering mitigating factors.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The public nuisance charge carries a penalty of up to three months in prison.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors sought only the maximum fine of $1,551, saying the staged act was intended for social media and risked undermining confidence in the hygiene of a commonly used vending machine.<\/p>\n<p>They noted Maximilien retrieved the straw himself, no member of the public used it, there was no evidence of harm, he was young and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Maximilien studies in a business school in Singapore, but prosecutors told the court he would also be in France from September to December as part of his studies.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien posted a video on social media of himself licking a straw from an orange juice vending machine and then putting it back. <span class=\"credit\">@singaporeincidents.sg\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Maximilien committed the offense at a shopping mall on March 12. <span class=\"credit\">@singaporeincidents.sg\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Prosecutors said immigration authorities will decide if Maximilien can keep his student pass in Singapore after considering all relevant factors.<\/p>\n<p>Defense counsel Kalidass Murugayan said the student has been living in Singapore without family support and expressed deep remorse for his actions.<\/p>\n<p>He said the video was a stunt for social media followers and that Maximilien later removed the contaminated straw from the machine to use for his own drink, meaning it was never intended for anyone else.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is truly sorry for having caused all this trouble,\u201d the lawyer said. His parents will ensure that he paid the fine himself, the counsel added. The student left the court without speaking to reporters.<\/p>\n<p>IJooz, the company operating the juice vending machine, filed a police report over the stunt and sanitized the dispenser while replacing all 500 straws in the machine.<\/p>\n<p>It has said it would upgrade its machines to include measures such as individually packaged straws and compartments that unlock only after the transaction is completed.<\/p>\n<p>Singapore, a densely populated city-state, tightly regulates public behavior and cleanliness and has strong penalties for littering and vandalism.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A French student was fined $465 after pleading guilty Thursday to a public nuisance charge in Singapore for filming himself licking a straw from an orange juice vending machine and putting it back in what lawyers described as a social media stunt. Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 19, admitted to licking the straw and returning it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-0hwjp8ibk-1785389120596.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1785374755&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}