A mental health advocate and event host received a tremendous amount of criticism on social media after making fun of a beatbox performer.
Linus Van Plata who hosted the ‘Anilag Got Talent’ raised the eyebrows of the netizens after he claimed that no other contestant wanted to use their microphone anymore after being used by the beatbox artist identified as Jerico Flores a.k.a Joker Beat.
“Wala pong gustong gumamit ng mikropono dahil parang napunuan ng kalawayan,” Flores said in jest.
Flores couldn’t hide his dismay toward Plata because of the things the latter said to him.
“Sa lahat po ng nakakakilala sakin, ako po ay mabuting tao. Hindi kopo alam bakit ako pinahiya ng sobra ng host. Hanggang ngayon po di ako makalabas samin sa sobrang hiya. Nawalan po ako ng gana sa lahat. Kahit guest at invite nawala po sakin,” Flores said.
“Actually, isesend sana namin sa DOH ‘eh pero idederecho na namin sa World Health Organization,” he added.
The recorded video of the incident received millions of views and negative comments against Plata because of what he did to Flores.
“This is a very unprofessional act from the host. We feel bad to our fellow pinoy beatboxer that’s just doing and sharing his passion then suddenly being embarrassed after performing at stage by the host of this Festival.” Philippine Beatbox Unity said in their statement.
“Beatboxing is a natural talent that is being used to create drum ideas, sound effects, and making a music out of it. Salute to our brother Joker Beat for sharing our community talent and passion to beatboxing.” they added.
Flores said that he was planning to buy his own microphone in the future so the incident would never happen again.
“Balang araw po makakabili Rin ako sarili kopong microphone, para hindi Napo ako laitin, may awa po ang dyos,” the artist said.