BOYFRIEND IS DIFFERENT FROM BOY FRIEND

by Direk Romm Burlat


Just wondered why malicious minds are all over the social media declaring that Tony Labrusca is gay. I vehemently disagree. I tried googling issues about his sexuality. I may not have been updated. There was no instance did Tony or his close friends said he was or he is.

I first met Tony during the Pinoy Boyband Superstar days where ROMMantic Jay-R Ramos was also a contestant like him. Despite being brought up in the US, you can still see some Filipino values in him. I didn't find him disrespectful. The first time I saw him, I know he will make it in showbiz. It's true, he is Adonis personified and many women and gays will fall for him. Some Filipinos may not understand the way he talks and acts because it may be very American but I can understand him since I have lived in San Diego, California for a bit and been visiting US every now and then. Like me, I can be misinterpreted as strict and brutally frank for comfort, Tony is also like that. But it doesn't mean you are rude and disrespectful. In other countries, they talk to you straight in the eye. Say what they want to say which sometimes can be misinterpreted as blunt. If we are not used to it, the gesture may be billed arrogant. Back to his sexuality, I didn't notice anything in his words or actions that will make me doubt. Every inch of him is a man.

On another hand, I detest his actuation at the Immigration but people should not bill him right away as gay because he was travelling with another ABS-CBN star, Alex Diaz who is also born and  raised abroad. (I believe it's Canada if memory serves me right.) During the interrogation, has Tony ever mentioned that Alex is his boyfriend?  Or in another instance, has anyone caught him saying the word boyfriend referring to his male friend? If ever he did, he might mean boy friend. In other countries, women introduced their female friends as girl friends. And if a guy may say boy friend, it may refer to his male friend. So why do some people love to give malicious meanings to every word which comes out from one's mouth. In the Philippines alone, we have several dialects and they mean different things. Libog in Manila is different from libog in Cebu. It's lust in Manila but it's confusion in Cebu.  Libang in Manila is to enjoy while it means defecate in parts of Visayas and Mindanao. So before we judge people, let us first think where they're coming from.

Let us not judge anyone or label anyone with anything unless we know the person fully well. Even then, no one has the right to judge someone because the person is different from us.

Again, to bill Tony Labrusca as gay, that's fake news. I also know his father Boom (our common friend is the late Direk Wenn Deramas). Whoever spread that fake news, stop it.

And here is a reminder for everyone: " Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events and small minds discuss people". Take your pick.