Dasmond Koh admits he deliberately 'humiliates' his artistes in front of others and his reason makes sense

There's a well-known Chinese saying that goes: "To hit is to dote, to scold is to love", and it's one that local celebrity Dasmond Koh probably holds close to his heart.

The 49-year-old, who's the head honcho of artiste management company Noontalk Media, is known for ruling his talents with an iron fist.

Apart from common industry practices such as not allowing talents to date and to dye their hair certain colours, Dasmond also bans them from wearing flip-flops and would slap their arm if he spots them resting their face on their hands.

In the latest episode of the local talkshow The Inner Circle, he even admitted he deliberately "humiliates" his talents in front of others. 

"He can, without any regard, criticise you, like, 'You shouldn't do this' or 'You can't do that'," Noontalk talent Zong Zijie revealed to host Guo Liang. The 25-year-old actor was one of the special guests in the episode.

He said he didn't understand it at first and wondered if Dasmond's actions were too extreme and that he was damaging the self-esteem of the artistes. It wasn't until much later that he understood why it was necessary.

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Dasmond explained: "I feel it's important for an artiste to build their psychological resilience." 

Guo Liang asked shocked: "Were you purposely humiliating them?"

"Yes," Desmond admitted frankly.

"Imagine you're on a film set and a director shouts at you without any ounce of politeness and everyone there is looking on. If you feel embarrassed, you won't be able to continue acting there and then.

"But if you are already used to my scoldings in the office with everyone looking at you, you would be able to quickly continue doing what you are supposed to do, having experienced such a situation before and possessing this sort of resilience."

Guo Liang then turned to the other guest on the set, Kenny Pang, who is the brother of the late actor Aloysius Pang, and asked what he thought of Dasmond's disciplinary style. Aloysius was signed with NoonTalk Media.

After a moment's pause, he confessed with a polite smile: "Maybe sometimes Dasmond could… tone down."

Star Awards 2021 will be broadcast live on April 18 on Channels 8 and U, with simulcast on meWATCH and Mediacorp Entertainment Channel on YouTube.

ALSO READ: Dasmond Koh hints at possible bullying incident between Elvin Ng and NoonTalk artiste Angel Lim

rainercheung@asiaone.com