Vice’s mockery of GMA-7 resurfaces

For starters, we admire Vice Ganda’s talent and we love our Kapamilya friends and colleagues.

Thanks to social media, it’s not easy to deny anything bad that has been said at one time or another. Everything is recorded, can be played again and shared to anyone.

Being a phenomenal star or the unkabogable star that he is, we believe Vice Ganda doesn’t have the license to malign, attack, and ridicule a whole network, or even its personages.

True, Vice Ganda’s success in showbiz is phenomenal. He has a string of box-office hits and he smashes his own records effortlessly. While we may have misgivings about him winning a best actor award over someone who we believe was more deserving, we thought it best to respect the decision of the jury who conferred him the award. We live and die by our own choices. If our choice is questioned, we should be ready to fight for it and defend it.

Vice is quick-witted and he throws punchlines (kahit minsan masakit) with ease. We laugh at his jokes on “It’s Showtime” and “Gandang Gabi Vice.” And he is the only openly gay celebrity who has achieved superstar status.

He is adored and loved by millions and Vice probably thinks he can do no wrong. Success can be intoxicating like wine and if not handled well, could lead to one’s undoing. Since success has obviously gone to Vice’s head, he has taken this to mean that he is powerful. But with great power comes great responsibility. Being popular and powerful doesn’t allow you to malign, ridicule and make fun of others just to make people laugh or somehow make you feel you are on top of the world and can do no wrong.

But there are parameters that must observed. Being sarcastic has its limits. You don’t insult people, good people who are just working and doing their jobs in this industry that we call entertainment. We should be always careful of the things we say or do. Be polite. If we can’t say something nice, then better keep our mouths shut, lest we hurt the feelings of others.

A video of Vice had been shared on Facebook where he was mocking GMA-7. It was very distasteful and arrogant.

But since AlDub became a success and made mincemeat of Showtime’s ratings, Vice would speak on their show and say they are not competing with Eat Bulaga. That they just want to make people happy, and that they know they can’t EB.

When Showtime was winning the ratings war, they gloated and bragged that they toppled an institution. Eat Bulaga was just cool. But when Eat Bulaga’s ratings soared to the highest levels, reducing Showtime’s ratings to single digits, they chose to ignore the millions of tweets made by the fans of AlDub, even casting doubt on its authenticity. Where is the sincerity in their so-called “accepting defeat”?

It was only the other night that we got to view the video of Vice making a laughing stock of GMA Network. Said video was aired last year in Showtime. So what is our take? The nerve of Vice to malign the rival channel of his home station. We are not taking sides but we believe each person deserves respect even if that person is considered a rival or an enemy. As Vice Ganda rattled off his insults, he gave the impression that he is untouchable, that he owns the world and that being popular spares him from making mistakes.

But since the ratings of It’s Showtime has dropped considerably to miniscule proportions versus Eat Bulaga’s more than 50 percent in ratings, should Vice Ganda maintain his stance of being strong and mighty? It is very obvious that Showtime has been beaten to a pulp and it’s a good thing the Kapamilya bosses have not decided to pull the plug and axe the show.

According to a source, It’s Showtime will be reformatted and hopefully by December, the show will have a better fighting chance against Eat Bulaga and the storm that is called AlDub and AlDub Nation. At this point in the race, the show of Vice Ganda should accept defeat with dignity. No more pakiyeme effect that “we are not competing against Eat Bulaga.” Why did ABS-CBN allegedly not renew Eat Bulaga’s contract? It was because they want to produce a show that will rival an institution. With It’s Showtime’s pitiful ratings, they should be thankful that their fans have remained loyal.

No person in his right mind would go to the extent of badmouthing and maligning a network, most especially with the stature of Vice Ganda since he is considered a prime talent of the Kapamilya channel. Besides, it is not all the time that his punchlines are cute or funny. There are moments these are off and insulting. Vice Ganda should know how to draw the line between decency and vulgarity.