Joey de Leon was facing criticisms from netizens after he made a joke during one of the segments of their noontime show E.A.T.
During the Gimme 5: Laro ng mga Henyo, a contestant was asked to give five things that could be hung around an individual’s neck.
Joey then joked, saying that a ‘lubid’ could also be hanged around the neck.
“Lubid lubid, nakakalimutan niyo,” said Joey.
Many mental health advocates couldn’t hide their disappointment due to Joey’s remark and reminded him about his public apology in 2017 after he joked about mental health.
On the October 5, 2017 episode of Eat Bulaga, Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, Alden Richards, and Maine Mendoza hosted one of its segments, ‘Juan for All, All for Juan’ when the contest winner talked about his mental health problem.
Joey, one of the studio hosts during that time, tried to convince the contestant that his problem was non-existent.
‘Yung depression, gawa-gawa lang ng mga tao ‘yan, gawa nila sa sarili nila,” said Joey.
However, Maine couldn’t stop herself from opposing the opinion of the veteran host.
“Uy pero hindi biro ‘yan ah, ‘yang depression. Kasi syempre maraming nakakaranas ng gano’n, lalo na sa mga kabataan, kaya dapat kapag may nakakaranas ng ganon, bigyan natin ng suporta,” she said.
Joey reiterated that depression was only a term created by rich people.
“Hindi, wag n’yong suportahan, gawa-gawa lang niya ‘yun. Pag mayaman depression, pag mahirap, wala nang pag-asa sa buhay. Ganon ‘yun eh,” he stated.
Thousands of netizens even the government during that time criticized the remark made by Joey.
The veteran host then apologized publicly and admitted that he was wrong.
“Nagkamali po ako. Pinagalitan ako ng misis ko. Pinaliwanang nya at ng mga anak namin,” he said.
“Ako’y humihingi ng paumanhin sa mga napaitan sa mga nabanggit ko, at humihingi ng inyong pang-unawa,” he added.