Mariah Carey: Did she or didn't she?

The story has been told and retold, getting fatter and fatter as it travels from ear to ear, taking on more colors and more versions than the original one.

I bet you've heard it, too, you know: That Mariah Carey, during an interview with MTV jock Donita Rose, uttered a derogatory remark about Regine Velasquez, our very own diva who is vocal about her admiration for Mariah who, no doubt about it, has somehow influenced Regine's singing style and even her costumes and the way Regine poses in her posters (tattoo and all).

The story, which started circulating about a month ago after Mariah's concert in Singapore, goes that Mariah, when asked by Donita about Regine, remarked, "A brown monkey who can sing!" Since then, the story has been spread in the Internet and most everybody has started to believe it.

Not me, though.

Why? Well, in December last year, I personally interviewed Mariah in Hong Kong during the launching of her Rainbow album and she confessed, when asked about her childhood, that she herself was a victim of racial prejudice, her father being "colored." In fact, according to Mariah, her mother's family disowned her (her mother) when she married her father. Throughout school, added Mariah, she had to cope with this racial prejudice, fighting hard not to develop an inferiority complex.

So when I heard that Mariah Carey story (but who could be behind this "slur" on Mariah and therefore on Regine's name?), I told friends I didn't believe it, knowing (from that heart-to-heart interview in Hong Kong), that Mariah has nothing but sympathy for "colored" people (artists) like her, she herself being one.

Now, if you hear still another Mariah Carey story that during a recent concert somewhere else, she asked if there were Filipinos in the audience and said, "Let them out'", I advise you not to believe it outright. You know, if you believe in everything circulated in the Internet (one such false alarm was about The Pope), you unwittingly end up just as much a victim as the object(s) of those cyber lies.

Meanwhile, here's an official statement from Donita herself about the whole brouhaha:

I am issuing this disclaimer in reaction to a news article which purportedly involved me and which was reported in a major broadcasting network's website. People have been reacting to the said report and I am saddened that I have been chosen to be implicated in this sorry affair.

The said article claims that international superstar Mariah Carey made a derogatory remark when asked to comment on our own Regine Velasquez during an interview that I supposedly conducted for MTV-Asia.

This alleged interview never took place except in the fertile minds of people who have not bothered to check their facts and made me an unwitting party to a distressing situation.

Not having been present during the said "interview," I have no comments to make on what was or was not said by Ms. Carey.

I am very grateful for the fair and kind treatment accorded to me by the Philippine press which has served to strengthen my belief that God favors those who live in His grace. And I pray that members of local media and their superiors would always exercise prudence and caution in disseminating news to the public. The damage caused by irresponsibility is often irreversible and no amount of public or private apology would undo what has already been planted in the public's mind. May our good Lord continue to favor you all with His infinite wisdom and guidance.

Thank you for your kind attention and understanding. I hope that this clears matters once and for all.

-- Sincerely yours,

DONITA ROSE CAVETT

* Boy Abunda's special guest on tonight's edition of Private Conversations (9 to 10 on Channel 21) is Inno Sotto.

* Ashley Judd will be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey his afternoon (1 o'clock) on STAR world.

* Auditions for singer-dancers and performers required for Fire Water Women, a new original Filipino Musical, a co-production of Musical Theater Philippines (MUSICAT) and Ballet Philippines are scheduled for May 27 and 28, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Suburbia (at #1718 M. Adriatico St. cor. Alonzo St., Malate, Metro Manila), Fire Water Woman is a full-length English musical scheduled to premiere in Oct. Inspired by national Artists Nick Joaquin's Summer Solstice, with libretto by Tats R. Manahan, music by Louie Ocampo, direction by Bart Guingona. Interested performers will be required to learn a song from the musical and to dance. For inquiries, call 722-8847/722-4757 or Ballet Philippines at 551-1003/551-1003/551-0221.