LoveSriLanka!

Eric Heinrichs Sharing his love for Colombo and beyond

Q:

Where did the interest to perform your skits online come from?

A: I’ve always loved to perform. Even as a little kid, I used to have a tape recorder and I’d record myself on it – pretending to do chat shows and comedy bits – and play it back. It fascinated me to listen to the playback and I simply fell in love with the craft.

It was my visit to Sri Lanka that brought back that childhood love. Being in quarantine for so long in the early days of COVID-19, I found myself making TikTok videos and funny skits about my experiences in Sri Lanka. And it took off after that!

Q: Since your videos have given you a brand of your own now, how do you deal with negative online criticism? Is hate speech something you have come across?

A: Yes, particularly on TikTok. There’s a huge population on TikTok and people can be anonymous with their user names – so a lot of nasty comments make their way across the platform.

To be honest, I don’t really take what’s said to heart. I brush off the comments and ignore them for the most part. I put into practice a line from the famous Selena Gomez song... and simply ‘kill them with kindness’!

But when nasty comments are made about my wife, I won’t tolerate it – and that’s probably the only time I would block a person online.

Q: You’ve shown a lot of interest in the Sinhala language and composed a few songs too. Would you consider tackling Tamil as well since it is the country’s other national language?

A: Yes, I do plan on doing that. Actually, I do a little rap in one of my songs called ‘Weligama,’ which is like a spin-off of Justin Bieber’s song ‘Peaches.’ But I am planning on doing a full song in Tamil eventually. And I need to get my tongue prepared!