BANGKOK: Warner Music Thailand has angered Thai netizens for allegedly ridiculing and insulting nine Constitutional Court judges as “rotten apples”.
On Aug 9, the Facebook page of Warner Music Thailand made a post to promote Spotify and YouTube links of a new song by its artist Charli XCX.
But the accompanying photos were of the nine judges in the Constitutional Court room reading the dissolution verdict against the Move Forward Party (MFP) on Aug 8.
The new song by Charli is titled Apple.
The post combined two photos of the nine judges on their benches into one photo – one on top of the other with a caption in the middle, saying both in Thai and English “I think the apple’s rotten right to the core.”
In the doctored photos, the faces of the nine judges were superimposed with images of apples.
The photos were also edited to hide the portraits of Their Majesties Kings Rama IX and X in the background and the court logo in the middle of the bench.
The Constitutional Court on Aug 8 voted “unanimously” to dissolve the MFP and ban its executive board, which includes its former leader Pita Limjaroenrat, from politics for 10 years over their attempt to reform archaic royal defamation laws
Pita, 43, led the reformist MFP to a shock first place in a general election in 2023 after striking a chord with young and urban voters with his pledge to reform Thailand’s strict royal defamation law.
On Aug 10, the Facebook post was removed but many netizens have already used it to attack Warner Music Thailand.
They also warned that the administrator of the page and executives of the company could face jail terms for contempt of court.
Many also threatened to file a complaint with the police against the page.
So far, Warner Music Thailand has not issued any statement to respond to the criticisms from Thai Facebook users.
Many users asked why the adminstrator removed the post without apologising and wondered if the page was paid for by a foreign government to attack the Thai court.
Many also cited Article 198 of the Criminal Code to warn that a person insulting presiding judges of a case could be liable to one to seven years in jail and a fine of between 20,000 baht (S$750) and 140,000 baht. - The Nation/ANN/AFP
