Allegations against operations in NOC

On 7 October 2021, Sylvia Chan was accused by an anonymous Instagram account @sgcickenrice of verbally abusing employees and fostering a toxic workplace culture with one talent named Samantha being singled out with an "exit strategy" requested by Chan.^[16][17] In response to the allegations, various brands such as Colgate and Milo ceased their collaborations with the company.^[18] NOC responded on 11 October, labelling the allegations a 'massive' smear campaign. It also touted its efforts in developing its employees in a safe space, before adding that there were "serious breaches" of privacy laws being investigated by the authorities. The Instagram account was subsequently issued a cease and desist letter from Edmond Pereira Law Corporation, before the account responded a day later with a letter from Eugene Thuraisingam saying that the allegations were not proven to be untrue and asked if the letter was worded to threaten criminal proceedings.^{[19][20][21][22]}

On 13 October, Chan apologised in a statement and acknowledged that she "did not live up to the standards expected of (her)". She was also removed from NOC’s line-up of artistes.^[23] However, Samantha Tan, whose alleged mistreatment by Chan was what ignited this saga, pointed out inaccuracies in Chan's statement.^[24]

On 15 October, it was reported by Mothership that an office similar to NOC's headquarters was listed on CommercialGuru for sale. The sale was later removed the same day.^[25]

On 19 October, current and former NOC employees revealed further information in two reports, with screenshots and video recordings that accused Chan of delayed salaries, workplace abuse and pressures, insensitivity in dealing with mental health issues, favouritism, no official human resources department, forcing people to take sides, infidelity, embezzling company money, sexually exploiting her female talents, fat-shaming a talent, as well as criminal conduct pertaining to her fiduciary duties.^{[26][27][28][29]} As at 20 October, NOC's subscriber base fell from 1 million to 995 thousand.^[29] Various public authorities like the Singapore Police Force, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Ministry of Manpower, and Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices were made aware and are looking into the various allegations. In addition, Chan filed a report against harassment and a private video leak, adding that she would address the allegations "soon" and that she kept her silence out of "civility".^[30][4][31]

It was also made known that Ryan Tan had tried to resign as NOC's director in May 2021 and was not involved with the company's management since then.^[20][32][33] However, due to the allegations, Tan resumed his director role.^[33] The anonymous Instagram account @sgcickenrice was later revealed to be created by Brandon Mah, an influencer and a friend to one of the NOC talents, who felt that he had to speak out for NOC employees.^[34][35]

Post-controversy

A few months after the controversy, Ryan Tan announced that he was no longer involved with NOC's operations, resigning since 19 January 2022. Another influencer, Aiken Chia, resigned as well.^[36] On 26 January 2022, NOC announced it would pivot from an influencer-driven model to a content-driven model, and aimed to expand regionally.^[37][38] In July 2022, separate legal proceedings initiated by NOC against Ryan Tan (and Reno King Pte Ltd), and two other of its former talents, Samantha Tan and Grace Lim, were held.^[39]

Team NOC

A subsidiary company which managed NOC's talents. It would also run its own YouTube channel.^[40] In July 2022, legal proceedings initiated by Team NOC against its former talents, Samanthan Tan and Grace Lim, were held.^[39]

Former Brands

Food King

In 2017, Aiken Chia, a The 5 Search runner-up and 987FM's YouTube channel host, joined Night Owl Cinematics and started Food King as a brand under NOC.Together with other NOC's former personalities, Dee Kosh and Ryan Tan, they would produce videos hosted recommending different food & beverages establishments and their food. The weekly series developed a trademark humour and was popular. In August 2020, Dee Kosh parted from NOC after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced, thus exited from the Food King series. After Sylvia Chan was alleged to have verbally abused employees and fostering a toxic workplace culture on 7 October 2021, Food King series was not updated since 8 October 2021. The 8 October video was dislike bombed by 10 October, with netizens being enraged at the allegations. Chia and Tan would eventually leave the company by end of 2021. On 22 June 2022, NOC posted a new Food King video. The video departed from offering food recommendations to the viewers, and instead presented the F&B establishment in a story format. On 3 September 2022, Food King announced on its social media channels its permanent closure.

Sugar Melon

Sugar Melon (衰哥霉人) was launched on 7 December 2019.^{[45][non-primary source needed]} It is a Chinese-language channel.^[46] The hosts on the channel were Rao Zijie, Nina Tan and Yan Wei 小二. The channel has ceased to exist, following the NOC saga resulting in all of the hosts leaving the channel.

The following are the series on the channel:

Prank it!

Hosts Rao Zijie and Nina Tan would prank a celebrity in every episode. Produced in partnership with MediaCorp.^[47]

谁是卧底 Spyfall

An adapted version of famous party game Mafia. It stars many of NOC's talents.^[48]