Humor Humor On The Wall

Good Morning! I forced myself to wake up early to today so that I could adjust my body clock. I slept at around 2 am, and this has been going on for a week. I don't know why, I usually close my laptop at 11 and lay down after but unlike before, I can't fall asleep just as fast. The worst thing about it is that  by the time I feel sleepy, I would feel hungry at the same time. Therefore, I have to go down and eat whatever, and if there's nothing to eat, I'll drown myself with water and my sleep momentum is gone. Bummer!

On the bright side, I was able to think of something to blog about. I guess its true that the brain is more active at night than day. Anyway, today's blog will be about comedians who, at some point in their  career, went beyond humor and offended some people. Yeah, I know what you are thinking, I drew inspiration from the Vice Ganda- Jessica Soho saga, kill me if you must. So let's get the ball rowlling! 

 

Today's triumvirate. 

• Candy Pangilinan - In her pre-Mother's Day show in SM Baguio, the comedienne greeted the crowd with "Tao po ako, hindi po ako Igorot", which offended some people in the audience. Baguio , apart from being the summer capital of the Philippines is also home to the Igorots, one of the many ethnic groups in our country.  One of the spectator said that the comedienne repeated the joke later in the show. Candy did apologize before she finish the show but the joke already reached internet forums, some even calling it 'racial murder'. Candy Pangilinan explained that what she meant was 'Igorot statue' but she somehow managed to unintentionally omit the word statue. Candy also wrote an apology on her blog and issued a public apology which was aired on national television. 

• Joey de Leon - If I may say, Joey de Leon probably is one of the smartest man in showbiz. His wit is  just extraordinary that sometimes it goes out of hand. His naughty humor caused him to be suspended not only once, but twice. First was in 2003 when he said a joke related to birds in the question in answer portion of That's My Boy. The said joke caused him a month's worth of suspension. The second suspension happened a year after, during a portion called TKO where the one of the contestant was gay. The joke came about when Joey told the contestant " Pag di nasagot i-tsupa" (tsupa is a slang term for fellatio) for which the contestant replied "Ah sarap". I think what he meant was 'Isa pa', whatever he meant by that, MTRCB suspended him for two months. 

• Willie Revillame - First, I never liked the guy. He was with me every lunch time lip-syncing his shudder inducing sense deprived songs. I don't like his jokes, I don't like his arrogance, I don't like him shaming his staffs, even some contestants. I would always pity some contestant for the lengths they will go for money, even if it means being the butt of all jokes spearheaded by Willie Revillame.  He was once suspended for cracking vulgar jokes. Even his own network (which he later challenged) reprimanded him to stop, to the extent that they terminated Willie from his show (Magandang Tanghali Bayan turned Masayang Tanghali Bayan) . What got Willie bigtime was the macho dancing incident. In one of his show's portion (Willie of Fortune, I think) there was a contestant named Jan Jan, a six year old boy who gyrated his way to tears, to the tune of ten thousand pesos. It became such an issue that CHR, DSWD, celebrities, local media and even foreign media condemned Willie and his show. MTRCB suspended Willie and his entire show for months, but the issue never died down as concerned citizens took justice in their hands and filed for a case. As of late, Willie Revillame has been charged with child abuse.

The Jan Jan incident, caused Willie his show, and is now facing a charge.

I'm pretty sure there are more comedians who have overstepped the line. These three, along with Vice Ganda, rattled the entire nation with their jokes. It may have been a bad experience for them, but it had been an eye opener to many, sparking debates and arguments aimed  for the betterment of the society. More than a mistake, I think people should treat this as a learning, for it only becomes a mistake when you never learn from it. I couldn't say the same for all of them, but I think they have learned their lessons, some, in the hard way.