A booth vendor at the recent CelebFest Ramadan event at Suntec Singapore has accused Malaysian actress-entrepreneur Betty Rahmad of being rude to his staff during a busy weekend — and the claims have since gone viral.
In his TikTok video overlaid with the text “Betty Rahmad you owe my staff an apology”, Singapore entrepreneur Alif (@aleafadam) alleged that the 44-year-old star raised her voice at his employees while trying to purchase an item at his booth.
He said only two staff were manning the booth at the time and both were busy attending to customers
“She came to the middle of the counter and shouted. She said, ‘I want this!’” he claimed.
Alif said her tone was inappropriate, especially in front of other customers. He also alleged this was not his first unpleasant encounter with the family, recalling a past incident involving Betty’s sister, director-producer Erma Fatima.
“Who are you? An artiste? I’m sure she doesn’t behave like this only with us. Perhaps many others have faced this kind of attitude before,” he said.
“Don’t be rude. You owe my employees an apology.”
The video quickly made the rounds online, with netizens weighing in.
Several commenters who claimed to be present during the incident described her tone as “demanding”, while others thanked Alif for calling her out.
“My friends were paying for their things. I didn’t know if she shouted because of the surrounding noise but her tone definitely not the best. Still, your staff treated her with friendly tone and utmost respect,” wrote one netizen.
Another alleged: “Not even an ‘excuse me’ and she went ‘I WANT THIS! I WANT THIS!’ repeated twice. Sounds very demanding to me.”
Some also shared past encounters. One netizen claimed she once browsed at Betty’s booth without realising it belonged to the actress.
“When I walked off, I said thank you. Then I saw her squint at me. As I walked away, I heard her say, ‘Is that all? Not buying?’ I found it rude,” the commenter wrote.
However, not everyone agreed with the backlash. One netizen defended Betty, saying: “I’ve served her in public. She’s friendly with her husband and children. If she was angry, maybe there was a reason.”
Betty later addressed the allegations in a live stream, saying the viral account was “very different from the real story” and calling the claims were unfounded.
“What the shop owner said was that I went to the counter and said ‘I want this’ in a shouting manner. But there was no story about what happened before or after,” she explained.
According to Betty, she had accompanied an introverted friend who was too shy to ask the staff for an item she wanted to buy.
“So I was teaching her how to say, ‘I want this.’ She cannot just stand there waiting for people to approach her,” Betty said.
She firmly denied yelling.
“In this month of Ramadan, I did not shout. I did not yell at the female employee,” she stressed.
Still, she apologised if her actions had unintentionally hurt the staff member.
“If I did hurt her feelings, I sincerely apologise,” she said.