Kasalukuyan palang nasa Osaka, Japan si Mister Supranational Philippines 2024 Brandon Espiritu, matapos ang insidente ng matinding batikos at kritisismong natanggap niya, dahil sa naging komento niya patungkol sa "halfies."
Nag-ugat ito sa isa pang male pageant title holder na si Jether Palomo matapos niyang dumalo sa isang birthday celebration ng isang kaibigan kasama ang mga kaibigang mula sa iba't ibang bahagi ng mundo. Sa naturang pagtitipon, hiniling umano sa kanila na umawit gamit ang kani-kanilang katutubong wika.
Matapos maibahagi sa social media ang nasabing okasyon, nagkomento si Palomo ng, “I pledge allegiance to the flag (US),” na agad na nakatawag-pansin at naging usap-usapan online.
Mababasa naman ang komento rito ni Brandon na "raise that flag brother."
Isang netizen naman ang umentrada at nagkomentong, "The question is at least one of you represented the Philippines but no one sang in Tagalog.
Unexpectedly yours! Sen. Robin flinex si Joshua Garcia, pang-asar sa Kakampinks?
Mababasa naman sa komento ni Brandon, "because we aren't from the Philippines. Why would we lie."
Balik na komento naman ng netizen, "then you should have represented your country."
“Tell that to all the front runners for the Philippines. This country wouldn’t have a chance on the national stage without us halfies,” banat naman ni Brandon.
Dahil dito, maraming netizens at maging mga kilalang personalidad ang nagpahayag ng pagkadismaya at kinuwestiyon ang implikasyon ng kaniyang pahayag.
Maki-Balita: Brandon Espiritu, tinira; Pinas, walang chance sa nat'l pageants kung walang 'halfies?'
Naglabas naman ng opisyal na pahayag si Espiritu at nag-public apology sa kaniyang mga nasabi.
Matapos nito, nag-deactivate ng kaniyang social media accounts si Espiritu dahil sa patuloy na backlash na natatanggap niya.
At nito ngang Linggo, Hunyo 21, na-interview si Espiritu ng isang content creator na si Eren Wayne Jr., na nagsasagawa ng "man-on-the-street" interviews.
Sa nabanggit na panayam, sinabi ni Espiritu na nasa Osaka sila ng kaniyang ina, para ipagdiwang ang kaarawan nito.
Dito ay naging open naman si Espiritu na kaya rin siya nasa trip ay para magpalamig muna sa nangyaring backlash sa kaniya sa social media, dahil nga sa "halfies remarks" niya.
"Actually, I came here, to be honest with you, I’ll be real. I do a lot of content too. I was doing lifestyle, fitness, wellness content for, like, ten years."
“And I also own businesses in Manila and all these stuff, like wellness club, café, and bar, and then a beach club."
"But I went through some public backlash, like, last week when I dropped a comment on Instagram."
"And it wasn’t supposed to be ill-intent but it just blew up and I was, like. so infamous for, like, two weeks online... like crazy backlash so I deactivated my stuff," aniya.
"It was an arrogant comment. I should have not dropped that and I do respect my country, my people..." saad pa ni Espiritu.
"I definitely see where I went wrong but yeah man, I gotta take a break," aniya pa.
Samantala, nakisimpatya naman ang content creator kay Espiritu.
"The coolest thing about him, was to take his time to apologize to whatever wrong things he said about Filipinos," aniya.
"He recognized his mistake, also mature enough to take this opportunity to send a positive message. The lesson on this video is, we never know what people is passing through."
"So let’s kind and respectful, we are all working on ourself and doing our best. Was nice to meet you espiritubrandon hope see you back go social media soon! Great to talk to you!" aniya pa.
