Netizens call for boycott following Fly FM's hire of 'problematic' Arieff Yong

Fly FM, an English radio station under parent company Media Prima Audio (MPA), has seen its brand sentiments dip following its recent addition of social media personality Arieff Yong to its radio DJ roster.

Following the announcement of its new hire on 25 January, 46% of netizens advocated for boycotts of Fly FM in favour of other radio stations, according to media intelligence firm dataxet:nama. 54% of netizens also called for the deletion of a tweet by the station introducing Yong to the crew.

The initial article published by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE said a formal apology was given by Yong. Upon further clarifications from FlyFM, we have corrected it to reflect that the apology was from the accuser. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE acknowledges, and apologises for the misinterpretation of Fly FM’s official response and for the inaccuracy in the context of 'formal apology by Yong' when initially crafting the article.

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The firm also highlighted that the negative sentiments were largely due to rape allegations against Yong with 64% of netizens describing his hire as "problematic". 

In fact, keywords associated with Fly FM since the announcement include "rapist", "cancel" and "annoying". Saying that, the media intelligence firm also noted that positive keywords such as "better", "best" and "funny were also associated with the radio station.

Additionally, 4% of netizens claimed to be unaware of the case with 2% expressing support for Yong and asserting that his name has been cleared. Few have questioned Fly FM’s due diligence in running background checks of their radio announcers, added the report from dataxet:nama.

Interestingly, 30% of netizens were not a fan of the recent addition to the Fly FM team because they did not find Yong to be funny, with online sentiment toward Yong being 94% negative.

From 29 January, Yong will be part of 'The Jokers in the Morning' radio show on weekdays from 6 to 10AM together with Ryan Howlett, according to Fly FM on social media.

“We are super excited to welcome Arieff Yong into our team this year, and not [going to] lie, how can he nail so many accents so well,” said Fly FM in a post.

Fly FM has also released a series of videos to drum up excitement for Yong being a new DJ. One of the videos shows Howlett casually asking Yong if he wanted to be on radio as Yong grabbed cereal from the pantry.

Comments for Fly FM's Instagram and TikTok accounts have since been turned off, according to checks by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

When MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out, Fly FM said that its engagement with Arieff Yong was done after a "rigorous talent acquisition process".

It said that the process included a review of Yong's professional credentials and a thorough individual background check. 

"MPA has sighted legal documents surrounding the 2021 case which includes a retraction and formal apology from the accuser which was duly accepted by Arieff Yong. Given the mutual resolution, Media Prima Audio has decided that Arieff is deserving of the opportunity to showcase his talents with our radio station," it said.

This is not the first time brand sentiments for the radio station saw a dip. Fly FM recently received consumer complaints about its fully AI radio DJ crew day takeover in October last year.

According to comments seen on Fly FM’s Instagram account, many were unhappy to find out they would have to tune in to AI DJs instead of the human radio personalities they have grown to love and expect.

Despite its efforts, brand sentiments for the station plummeted. According to media intelligence company CARMA at the time, net sentiment skewed negative on 5 October when the fully AI DJ shows happened. Prior to 5 October, Fly FM had experienced positive net sentiment for three weeks.

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