Actress and TV host Toni Gonzaga was criticized for her interview with former senator Bongbong Marcos on her Toni Talks Youtube show. Netizens said the interview with Bongbong gave the former senator a platform to “humanize and change the image of his dad.”
The Ateneo de Manila University’s Martial Law Museum proposed to Toni to instead talk to the victims and surviving families of the Martial Law regime.
In an open letter, the group said the interview with Bongbong benefits no one and pushes back the struggle to gain justice from the atrocities committed by the Marcos regime.
“Inviting the son of a murderous and corrupt dictator of our country to your show benefits no one and pushes back the struggle to gain justice from the atrocities committed by the Marcos regime and against historical revisionism running rampant amongst our people. Your show has contributed to the Marcos family’s attempts to whitewash their human rights violations and its proven historical record. Marcos is a lying clout chaser, desperate to change public opinion about historical facts as he has neither history nor truth to his side.”
“Celebrities should use their platforms, influence, and privilege in order to aid the progress of the common good. Helping build a more just society means that we hold the corrupt and the murderous to account and deprive them of the means and platforms that normalizes and whitewashes these figures and behaviors. The propagandistic lies peddled by Marcos on your show, and the lies peddled by those who had orchestrated the current shutdown of your own home network ABS-CBN, are fruits from the same tree. These falsehoods are designed to mislead and divide our people so that corruption and lust for power remain rampant and unchecked throughout our country.”
(Photo source: Youtube screengrab – @Toni Gonzaga Studio)
You must be logged in to post a comment Login