Filipino singer Regine Velasquez recently made waves after responding to a tweet by Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teddy Location essentially chiming in on a topic she clearly is not qualified to discuss.
I don’t mind celebrities voicing their opinion about politics and other issues outside of their skill set. What I do mind is their opinion being given more weight just because they are celebrities.
The above statement tweeted by “Asia’s Songbird” got away with baldly false assertions that include…
1) Implying Locsin is not very smart. (Guess again.)
2) Claiming that Scarborough shoal is part of Philippine territory. (It isn’t. Ownership is still being disputed. China doesn’t own it either.)
3) Insisting that she is a “simple” person. (She isnt. She is a celebrity.)
Perhaps, referring to that last point, she meant simpleton.
Just the same, three counts of false information in a single tweet. And yet Regine Velasquez — because she is a celebrity and because she literally parrots the Yellow narrative — is given a pass with fanfare.
The Yellow Opposition routinely apply a double standard when they call out — or cheer on — celebrities who issue poltical statements. If it is favourable to their narrative, they are “heroes”. If, on the other hand, they make statements disagreeable to the Yellow “cause” they are demonised as shills who have “no right” to be engaging in political partisanism.
Selective. Yellow. True colours shine through no matter the disguise.
In life, things are not always what they seem.