Willing Revillame goes on leave after advertisers pull-out

Last night, Willy Revillame launched into a monologue where he basically portrayed himself as a hero do-gooder who is being victimized by people who are jealous of his success and want to tear him down.  Then, at the end of his monologue, he told the audience that he would go on leave for two weeks to re-think everything and consider whether it would be worth going back to the show.

Here’s a portion of Willy Revillame’s monologue:

Ngayon po, nakipagusap po ako sa presidente ng  TV5, Atty Rey Espinosa. Nagusap kami na hanggang ngayon na lang po ako sa Willing Willie. Magpapahinga na muna po ako, hindi po ako magpapaalam. Starting po today ang live namin , bukas ho nakatape na po kami. Lalabas ho yon mapapanood niyo. Starting ho ng Monday hanggang Holy Week, pagiisipan ko ho kung ako po ay babalik pa sa industriyang ito. Bigyan niyo lang po muna ako ngpagkakataon sa sarili ko. Masyado ho akong binintangan ng binintangan ng wala ho akong ginawang masama sa akin. Sa mga tao hong gumawa niyan sa aki, ang isipin niyo yung mga matanda na nasa labas, mga bata, mga mahihirap sa labas. Wag ako. Instrumento lang ako ng mga tao. Wag niyo akong kainggitan dahil hindi ako lumalabas ng ibang lugar. Lagi lang ako nandito sa studio na to sa bahay ko o nakikipagpaligsahan sa inyo. Kung kayo ang magaling, magaling kayo. Basta ang puso ko, nandito sa mga mahihirap.

Willy Revillame goes on leave after advertiser pull-out

Somewhere in the monologue, Willy Revillame threatened to sue all those who bashed him on twitter.

Tsaka yung mga tumitira sa akin sa twitter., kung idedemanda ka ng TV5, idedemanda rin kita. Magdedemandahan tayo. Idedemanda ko lahat ng tumira sa akin sa Twitter, lahat ng personal. Tandaan nyo yan.

The monologue, or rant, came after more advertisers announced that they would be suspending advertising on the program.

There’s some rah-rahing going on because it would seem that the movement to chastise Willy Revillame has succeeded in certain respects.

I don’t know if anybody has started printing a shirt that says “In my country, everyone is a hero” (a reference to the hurrah-for-me-I-am-a-hero-for-tweeting-blogging about Ondoy).  But I do hope no one attempts to “brand” the movement as his or hers and then tries to sell his expertise at creating massive online movements (a reference to Big Bad Bloggers and fake digital PR God-men/shamans).

Then again, if we are to take the point of view that the online campaign sparked by the sexually suggestive dancing of a six year old on Willing Willy has succeeded, I’d like to ask: How exactly did it succeed?

Is it because the letter writing campaign to advertisers and government agencies resulted in the advertising pull out?  Is it because Willy Revillame, in a way, acknowledged that he is vulnerable to an advertising pull-out?  Is it because, also, that advertisers have responded in the way that they have?

I really have no way to gauge if any of the answers we can give to these questions are going to be right or wrong.

But, what I do hope for is that the outrage movement that was sparked by the sexually suggestive dancing of a six year old didn’t come to be just because of a shared hatred for Willy Revillame.

I hope that, finally, those who know better are actually going out of their way and teaching those who don’t know better that it isn’t all right to be treated crudely in exchange for a few thousand pesos… that decency should be a hallmark of all TV shows… that pandering to base and vulgar tastes shouldn’t be the norm for marketing TV shows…

More importantly, that the media industry here in the Philippines should LIFT people up, rather than, as Willy Revillame says, dragging them down.