“Your Dad Is Just A Grab Driver, What Can He Do For You?” Glenn Yong Reveals Criticism He Got From Veteran Artistes He Used To Respect

You may know local actor-singer Glenn Yong, 26, from his starring role in 2021 Mediacorp drama Live Your Dreams, and as Sergeant Chow in Jack Neo's Ah Girls Go Army series. He’s also set to play the lead in the upcoming third instalment of Jack’s I Not Stupid franchise.

While Glenn’s star is on the rise, he’s had to deal with his fair share of naysayers.

On the latest episode of R U Okay?, he speaks to host Jean Danker and psychologist Katherine Koh about the negative comments he's received from people he used to admire.

When asked about the ways he deals with negativity on social media, Glenn says: “Now, I think I deal with it pretty well. But when I first started, no, [because] I didn’t have any backing. None of my friends and family members were from the entertainment industry. So you kinda start off with no connections, nothing. It’s pure hard work and passion. Of course at the start there were a lot of people who weren’t supportive 'cos they thought it was impossible.”

Glenn, who describes himself as “idealistic”, then recalls how he would talk about his dreams, such as attending fashion weeks, and being in movies, with anyone he met.

“But these people would look at me, and be like, 'Are you serious?'” he reveals.

Jean backs him up by saying: “I love that you would do that, like getting there and visualising your future. I think it’s really awesome!”

Glenn says: “I think maybe it’s the otaku side of me. I watch a lot of anime, like Naruto and One Piece, and all these anime [feature] main characters with big dreams. They’re unashamed of their dreams so I thought the real world is the same. But when I shared things like this, I realised people weren’t as receptive,” says Glenn.

Glenn says he had to learn to express himself differently, but not before he recieved criticism from naysayers.

“I won’t name drop, but even veterans from the industry, they would tell me to stop dreaming, or [say] it’s not possible in Singapore,” recalls Glenn, who was also told to be “more realistic”.

He describes the experience as his “first wave of haters”.

The second wave? When he started to make progress in his career, and was labelled a “wannabe” and a “try-hard”.

“Lastly is when [I] finally made it. Some of them will still say it’s luck, or [they think I probably] did some ‘under the table’ stuff to get to where I am today. It’s just like this disbelief mode,” he continues.

He now knows that it's impossible to please everyone. 

Instead, he has two rap singles, ‘Up Up’ and ‘Break Out’, which has lyrics he penned to fight back against his haters.

“The lyrics are pretty fierce. It’s things I can never talk about in interviews, because people will be like, ‘Wow, it’s intense’. That, in a sense, is my form of therapy to express all the hurt, pain, and hate I received in my life,” he explains.

A curious Jean then asks: “You mentioned some veteran artistes who said not-nice-things, and shut [your dreams] down. Without naming names, could you tell us one example of what a person said to you that was really damaging, that maybe it appeared in your song?”

Glenn ponders over the question for a second.

“They would say stuff like 'You’ll never be the male lead in your life' and 'You’re not male lead material'. For every actor, [the] dream is to act in a show where you can be a male lead right, so you can fully experience the show. But that was said to me before I even started my career and it was by someone I kinda respect… at the point of time. Obviously the respect was gone after that right. It hit me a lot. It’s like the people you watch on TV telling you that. How do you swallow that, how do you deal with that, you know?” he answers with a sigh.

There was also another veteran artiste who told Glenn: “You have no money, you have no connections, who do you think you are?”

He admits he was shocked by the comment, because the person who said it “seemed nice in all his years of watching [them onscreen]”.

Glenn then emphasises that he is in no way exaggerating his private conversations with these veteran artistes.

“They would even point out my family and parents. At that time, it was Covid, and because my dad was a tour guide, he couldn’t bring people on tours, so he was driving Grab. This person would say 'Your dad is just a Grab driver, your mum just does home bakery stuff, what can they do for you?'... This is an older person right, so I couldn't scream [at them]. I just had to listen and swallow it, like ‘whatever’. But I remember all of these things, so it’s tough,” says Glenn with a shake of his head.

He says the examples he named were the more “severe” ones.

For the most part, many discouraged Glenn from venturing overseas and acting in Hollywood and Chinese productions.

“They will tell me it’s not possible [because] they’ve tried and it didn't work out,” he recalls. Since they failed, they doubted Glenn’s ability to “make it”.

“People you idolise and watch on the TV? That’s really tough,” adds Jean.

Glenn chuckles and says: “They’re not just random uncles [and] aunties. They’re veterans, so I won’t name drop. But yeah it is tough. I would say the industry is not all fun and nice. These are things I had to deal with and as crazy as it sounds, it is reality. This is the real world.”

Catch all 3 seasons of R U Okay? on meWATCH here. You can also listen to the podcast on Spotify and meLISTEN.

Photos: Glenn Yong/ Instagram, meWATCH