Teen Who Licked Public Straw Gets His Punishment

A French teen's attempt at a viral prank in Singapore just cost him about $465. A court levied the fine on 19-year-old student Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien after he admitted to licking a straw from an iJooz orange juice vending machine, then putting it back and posting the clip on Instagram. The stunt, filmed at a machine in an upscale neighborhood on March 12, triggered a wave of online criticism and media coverage, and forced the company to replace all 500 straws in the dispenser.

"He is truly sorry for having caused all this trouble, and he realizes that what appeared to him at that time as something perhaps playful has turned out to be something very consequential," said the teen's lawyer, per the Straits Times. The mea culpa may have helped: Maximilien, who pleaded guilty to public nuisance, could have gotten three months in jail.