MANILA, Philippines — Actress Alex Gonzaga has been receiving mixed criticism for smearing a waiter with chocolate icing from her birthday cake.
Gonzaga was celebrating in advance her 35th birthday, and a viral video obtained from the Instagram story of content creator Dani Barretto shows that after blowing the cake's remaining candles, she patted the cake and tapped the icing on the server's forehead who was carrying the cake.
A number of social media users, upon seeing the video, thought Gonzaga was simply being her playful self and was displaying another prank. More comments, however, were more dismissive of her actions.
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Majority of the reactions toward Gonzaga were along the lines of "insensitive," "humiliating," and "not at all hilarious."
Miss Universe Philippines 2021 semifinalist Ayn Bernos, while not mentioning any names, tweeted: "Paalala na yung mga jokes dapat nakakatuwa for all parties involved."
Paalala na yung mga jokes dapat nakakatuwa for all parties involved
— Ayn Bernos (@aynbernos) January 16, 2023
Some other individuals, while also lightly criticizing the vlogger-actress, suggested that Gonzaga could have instead smeared the icing on her husband Mikee Morada who was standing right behind her in the video.
These include one comment by fellow content creator Janina Vela, "Siguro mas-acceptable ito kung ka-close mo yung tao, pero dahil sa 'power dynamics' dito — Kuya as the server and Ms. Alex as the served — hindi niya magagawa yun. Service workers are our equals. It’s their job to serve, but it’s our job to give them the respect they deserve."
Siguro mas-acceptable ito kung ka-close mo yung tao, pero dahil sa “power dynamics” dito —Kuya as the server and Ms. Alex as the served— hindi niya magagawa yun ??
— Janina Vela (@janinavela) January 16, 2023
Service workers are our equals. It’s their job to serve, but it’s our job to give them the respect they deserve. https://t.co/6i7wZHDLcQ
As of writing, the viral video has reached millions of views on Twitter. Gonzaga has yet to respond on the issue.
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