KUALA LUMPUR: Netizens have slammed celebrity preacher Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew, or Ebit Lew, for allegedly making "fake" religious content with a purported homeless woman.
In a video posted on TikTok, Ebit Lew is seen approaching a tattooed woman lying on a piece of cardboard on the street.
He sat next to her talking, then handed her some money.
Touched by his actions, the woman — who had facial piercings, wore a leather jacket, several skull rings on her fingers and carried around a ukulele — began to cry.
Ebit then took her indoors and began preaching to her. At that moment, the woman was seen to be praying while crying. She was then handed a telekung which she changed into.
The video, posted on May 31, was captioned "Pray for Mondy in Jakarta, Indonesia."
Netizens on Twitter however called his bluff and were quick to point out that the "homeless" woman was in fact an Indonesian influencer.
Known as Mondy (@mondy_tatto), the influencer has over a million followers on TikTok, and her videos regularly receive hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views.
A Twitter user only known as "R" said the cost of tattoos on her body and her piercings could be equivalent to the cost of buying a second-hand Perodua MyVi.
Another user, Mami-Shelly, expressed disbelief that the woman in the video was homeless, highlighting that she even had braces.
"Just piercing your lips costs about RM200 in Malaysia. How many piercings does she have? She also has tattoos, and braces. No way is she homeless."
On June 13, a video was uploaded on Ebit's TikTok account, showing that Mondy had arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ebit had welcomed her at the airport.
Yesterday, Mondy went live on Ebit's TikTok account, selling sambal tempoyak bilis petai.
Ebit, 37, is no stranger to controversy. He is facing 11 charges, including insulting the modesty of a woman in her 40s by sending obscene words and pictures to the victim's phone number via WhatsApp between March and June 2021.
In May, the seventh prosecution witness in the trial told the magistrate's court here that 436 photographs related to the case were retrieved from a Samsung Galaxy A31 mobile phone which was sent to the police forensic laboratory.
Police audio video senior analyst Assistant Superintendent Latifah Abdul Aziz, 43, said in addition, four video recordings and 219 screenshots were obtained from the mobile phone.
The charge under Section 509 of the Penal Code provides for a prison sentence of up to five years or a fine or both, upon conviction.