YouTubers face deportation from Bali over fake mask stunt

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(CNN) — Two YouTubers are going through deportation from Bali after they made a prank video that depicted considered one of them breaking native mask legal guidelines.

Josh Paler Lin and Leia Se have reportedly had their passports seized by native authorities and threat being compelled to depart Indonesia because of the video.

Within the clip, Se makes an attempt to enter a grocery retailer, solely to be turned away as a result of she is not sporting a face mask. Lin then paints a fake mask on her face and he or she is ready to enter the store.

The video, which was posted on April 22, went viral. Lin has 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube.

Indonesia has been strictly imposing its mask mandates. Police are allowed to situation fines on the primary offense and deport foreigners on the second offense.

Although this was Lin’s and Se’s first identified offense, the hubbub surrounding the video drew a lot consideration that Balinese authorities seized each of their passports. Lin is reportedly from Taiwan however lives in the US, whereas Se (who goes by the identify Lisha on-line) is a Russian citizen, in response to a police assertion.

“They are going to be examined along with Immigration to take the choice on whether or not or to not deport them,” I Putu Surya Dharma, a spokesman from the regional workplace for the Ministry of Regulation and Human Rights in Bali, confirmed to local media.

Lin has since eliminated the video from his YouTube channel. On April 24, he uploaded a video on his Instagram the place he, Se and their legal professional apologize for the stunt. The video is subtitled in English and Indonesian.

“The intention to make this video was in no way to disrespect or invite everybody to not put on mask,” Lin says. “I make this video to entertain folks as a result of I’m a content material creator and it’s my job to entertain folks.” Later, he provides: “we promise to not do it once more.”

This time, they’re each totally masked.

In the meantime, some law enforcement officials appear to have taken a extra inventive method to punishing these caught breaking the legislation: an Australian information channel reported that two vacationers have been ordered to do push-ups as punishment for mask slacking.

Authorities confirmed to the channel that they’d issued 8,864 fines or tickets for mask non-compliance in Bali in a single week. The island is vastly fashionable with international vacationers and plenty of selected to experience out the pandemic there as an alternative of return to their native nations.

Indonesia has had 1,651,794 recognized instances of the virus and about 45,000 deaths. Bali, which depends closely on tourism, had hoped to begin allowing foreign visitors by September 2020, however the ongoing virus state of affairs has up to now left the island with no agency reopening plan.

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