Coco admits to almost losing projects over Bench controversy

Photo of the controversial performance that got actor Coco Martin in trouble with women’s groups (Photo: change.org)

MANILA – Actor Coco Martin has admitted that the fallout from his controversial segment in the Bench fashion show nearly cost him some of his endorsements contracts.

Martin, whose appearance on the “Naked Truth” show had him walking a woman on a leash as his “pet”, received outrage from women’s groups and netizens alike for what was largely considered a tasteless act which was demeaning to women.

Last week, the actor talked with reporters from Push while on the set of the television series “Ikaw Lamang,” during which he confessed that some of his endorsements were temporarily pulled from him on the heels of the fiasco.

Shortly after the controversy, Martin apologized to the women’s groups for the performance, which they described as a “disturbing throwback to concepts of enslaving and subjugating women to male fantasies”.

Martin has since been able to regain all his endorsements.

“Okay na. Mula nung nagkausap kami ng Gabriela at ng iba pang mga grupo na concerned nagbalikan na agad (It’s ok already. Ever since I was able to speak with Gabriela and the other concerned groups, (the endorsements) were returned.),” Martin said.

“Siguro [tinignan] lang din nila kung paano ko iha-handle ang situation. Sabi ko naman talaga eh, inako ko na kung ano man ‘yung pagkukulang at pagkakamali ko (Maybe they were waiting (to see) how I would handle the situation. But I have always said that I own up to my shortcomings and mistakes.) ,” he added.

He pointed out that he has learned a valuable lesson from the events that transpired: “Sabi ko nga ako alam ko naman bilang artista ‘yung responsibilidad ko as an actor sa audience ko. Siguro hindi lang talaga all of the time talagang nakatutok ka minsan may mapapabayaan ka, (In fact I said that I know that as an actor, I have a responsibility to my audience. Maybe sometimes we tend to lose sight of that and sometimes we become negligent.)” he said.

Luckily for Martin, he and Bench CEO Ben Chan still enjoy a good working relationship, and the business mogul even apologized to Martin for the ss in which he found himself after the show.

“Nakakatuwa kasi supportive pa rin sila sa akin. Ayun kuwentuhan lang kami tapos humingi lang kami ng paumanhin sa isa’t-isa kasi siyempre hindi naman naming pareho inakala na magkakaroon ng problema (It makes me happy that they are still supportive of me. There, we were just talking and then we said sorry to each other, because neither of us expected that a problem would arise.),” Martin said, in reference to his conversation with Chan.