'Inappropriate and honestly scary': Singaporean man gets flak for conducting Christian worship on flight
Neo (in grey top) rocking it out to Christian songs on his guitar during an easyJet flight.
PHOTO: PHOTO: Twitter/Thatdaneshguy
PUBLISHED ONApril 18, 2022 5:19 AMByAmierul RashidPassengers onboard an easyJet plane had an in-flight entertainment of a different kind after a Singaporean man, Jonathan Neo, conducted a mid-flight Christian worship session.
In the videos trending on social media, Neo was standing along the plane aisle strumming his guitar while singing out loud.
This 20-second clip posted on Twitter last Saturday (April 16) received a staggering 29.9 million views at the time of writing.
[embed]https://twitter.com/davenewworld_2/status/1515284320184934403[/embed]
Neo's seemingly impromptu performance received mixed reactions from other passengers.
A Caucasian man in a blue and green plaid shirt sitting nearby did not seem amused while some around him had no qualms at all, recording videos on their phones as they sang along.
Neo himself posted an Instagram Reel claiming that he checked with a cabin crew if "we could worship over the plane".
Apparently, the pilot gave the green light and even introduced Neo over the microphone.
Details regarding Neo's flight could not be confirmed although British newspaper the Daily Mail reported that the flight was on its way to Germany.
On TikTok, user Thatdaneshguy was so unhappy with Neo's antics that he searched for the Singaporean man's social media accounts before including them in his TikTok rant.
"Hello Jonathan, you want attention? Here you go," he said.
Thatdaneshguy added that Neo's actions were "inappropriate and honestly scary".
[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@thatdaneshguy/video/7087394302002761006?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=6944924152827184641[/embed]
Similar to Thatdaneshguy, some netizens did not hold back their disdain for the incident with one suggesting they'd play a particular Lady Gaga tune to match Neo's concert.
Another TikTok user felt that Neo would still be in the wrong even if he sang non-religious songs as it is still "not appropriate to disrupt the flight for all of the other passengers" while a Twitter user questioned, "why do people think it's ok to impose their religion on others?"
On the flip side, a Twitter user was rather confused by the hate projected towards Neo given that "nobody on the plane looks all that upset".
Another Twitter user wrote that perhaps having that worship on the plane was "totally uncool and inconsiderate".
"But doxing the guy is not the right response either. Your tweet was polite, but the pile-on will be AWFUL. He'll be emboldened by the righteous fight, but what about those he tagged?" the user posted.
Another user wrote that impromptu performances like this happen all the time on long flights for him.
"I've had the cast of the lion king, a military singing group, a barbershop quartet and a few others (mostly amateur groups)," he added. "Sometime's annoying but not a crime, esp if they asked pilot."
Prior to this controversy, Neo was heading to Przemyśl, a Polish border town closest to Lviv, Ukraine on March 23 to help refugees at the Polish-Ukrainian border.
It seems that Neo had deleted most of his social media accounts when AsiaOne tried to contact him.
"Most days since I’ve been here, I grab a guitar and head to the train station to lead a team of evangelists, worshippers, translators and people who love healing!" Neo told Christian news and media website, Thir.st on April 11.
It seems like playing music about his faith in public spaces is an activity he truly enjoys.
We're just not sure if everyone else around him enjoys it as much.