Erik Matti slams Toni Gonzaga over Marcos-Marcoleta controversy
11 Feb – Never one to shy from giving his opinions, filmmaker Erik Matti recently slammed Toni Gonzaga for her attitude against the backlash over her support for politicians Bongbong Marcos and Rodante Marcoleta.
Sharing a screenshot taken from Toni's Instagram Story, in which she shared a fan's post about her being unbothered by the recent issue, the director expressed, "Everyone has a right to their own political stances. But when Hitler runs for office after slaughtering millions of Jews and you still support his bid, the least you can do is acknowledge all the blood he has spilled and with integrity, stick to your own crazy misplaced loyalty in private or in silence."
Erik compared the atrocities of Hitler to the Marcos regime in the Philippines, stressing that no one has claimed responsibility until now.
"The victims of both the Holocaust and our Martial Law were all real people with names, families and siblings that walked and talked the earth then and even survived by descendants until now. No one can ever say they didn't exist. I cannot fathom anyone, who have access to the same historical facts from our books and Youtube like everyone else, can still have the gall to hold their head so high to the point of being so arrogant and obnoxious to brush away critics and dissenters even acknowledging and flaunting it with such an insensitive hashtag. That is just incomprehensible," he continued.
"To give your support to any political candidate whether or not out of affinity, blood or loyalty is between you and your conscience. You can do whatever you want with your celebrity power and God's guidance because this is a free world, after all. But to be brazen, arrogant and snooty makes all of it despicable, disgusting and really crude. What makes you people so emboldened, seeming almost like untouchables, to never have the decency to acknowledge with humble bowed heads and with Almighty God as your witness, that you are on the side of what history had unmistakably and irrefutably proven to have been part of the plunder and corruption of the Philippines then and now.
He ended the post with the hashtag "bothered", and earned the support of many including fellow celebrities like Ina Feleo, Lotlot de Leon, Miko Morales and John Arcilla, with the latter writing, "Salute Erik!"
Toni recently announced her departure from hosting "Pinoy Big Brother" amid the backlash of her appearance at Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos' proclamation rally as a host. She further enraged people, especially former ABS-CBN workers, when she introduced Rodante Marcoleta at the event, despite the latter being one of the few lawmakers who pushed to deny the network's franchise renewal which cost thousands of jobs.
(Photo Source: Erik Matti Instagram, ABS-CBN)
