Singapore police arrest alleged The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender leaker
People aren’t thrilled with Paramount these days. After all, that’s what corporate consolidation and the transformation of CBS News into a state media outlet tend to do. But here is someone who may not have chosen the wisest form of protest. The Strait Era reports (via Gizmodo) that Singapore police arrested a 26-year-old man for leaking the The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender.
The film, which is part of the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise, was originally planned for a theatrical release. But after two delays, it was then moved to Paramount+, where it is expected to debut later this year. Naturally, die-hard fans of the franchise bristled at the prospect of the highly anticipated entry into cinemas. Paramount’s lack of marketing apparently didn’t help either.
However, many have already seen the film, apparently thanks to the anonymous 26-year-old man in question. Singapore police said he gained remote access to a server and downloaded the film. He then published parts of it online. After the leak, Paramount changed the name of the film to Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender – perhaps to try to prevent casual fan searches from revealing information about the leak.
The man is under investigation for unauthorized access to computer equipment. He faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000, or both.
Earlier this month, The Hollywood Reporter interviewed X account owner @ImStillDissin, who posted the clips. (While we can speculate that this could be the man currently in custody, this is unconfirmed.) The interview revealed a rather, shall we say, blasé approach to the incident. He said he thought releasing clips from the film was not a problem since the film is a streaming-only release. “I saw it was just a Paramount+ thing, so I decided to troll a little,” the leaker said.
The leaked clips spread quickly. Despite calls from 4Chan posters to share the entire film, @ImStillDissin resisted. However, someone else shared the full movie on April 13. Naturally, this file has since been widely circulated.
So, good luck with that official October 9 streaming release, Paramount. You will need it.
