Alex Gonzaga receives backlash over ‘insensitive’ drug user joke

FILE: Actress Alex Gonzaga (Photo: Alex Gonzaga Official/Facebook)

When actress and television host Alex Gonzaga allegedly made drug users as a subject of her joke, many netizens were fumed over it because the issue was supposed to be a sensitive topic, especially now that the government is having an anti-illegal drugs crackdown.

Just last week, Alex and her friends were at the Cubao Expo for a vlog or video blog to feature the place which houses art galleries, various restaurants, and vintage shops.

As she was walking in the area, Alex was seen stopping in a group of men who were sitting outside a store and said, “Anong pinagpupulungan natin (What are we talking about)?”

She continues, “Oh ngayon, mag-ihi tayo, drug test tayo (Now, let’s urinate, let’s take a drug test).”

While some of them laughs at her joke, a man in a white shirt seems like he did not find it funny and maintained his poker face.

Seeing the man’s reaction, Alex said, “Galit na siya sa’kin, parang papatayin niya ako (He is already mad at me, he seems like he is going to kill me),” adding “Joke lang, ito naman oh (It was only a joke).”

This part of Alex’s vlog was shared to Twitter by netizen @jerichorayel as he called out the actress for her “insensitive” joke.

“This is a clip of the Cubao Expo vlog of Alex Gonzaga. This is so insensitive on so many levels especially now that the government is out there killing people tagged as drug users,” he tweeted

He added, “Second, hindi siya (It is not) funny. Hindi nakakatawang pagbintangan kang adik (It is not funny to be tagged as drug user).”

The Kapamilya actress then replied to the netizen via Twitter, but she, later on, removed it.

In her now-deleted tweet, Alex said sorry to those who find her humor “annoying and insensitive.”

“How I wish you may never see or click any of my videos again,” she wrote.

Alex then tagged the netizen who called her out saying, “Lalo na sayo @jerichorayel kasi sobra na galit mo at tinag mo pa ako (Especially to you, @jerichorayel because you were extremely mad at me that even tagged me).”

“Pero sa mga natutuwa, tuloy tayo (But for those who find it funny, then let’s continue)!!!” she further said.

A screenshot of Alex’s tweet was shared by Twitter user @kaeofficial, who said the reason why Alex tagged @jerichorayel on her tweet was for him to get ‘bashed’ by the actress’ fans.

Replying to this, Alex explained that she deleted her tweet because @jerichorayel told her that he was being “attacked” on social media.

“I tagged him because he’s been tagging me with his negative words. He was RT-ing (retweeting) criticisms and people bashing me but ayaw pala nya tumanggap ng salitang binato (he does not like to accept criticisms) so I deleted it for him,” Alex told the netizen.

According to the TV host, she and the guy she mentioned on her tweet already discussed the matter via direct message, noting that they “have [a] good conversation explaining our sides.”

Alex last May drew flak over her “Japan, Japan, sagot sa kahirapan (answer to poverty)” remark as several netizens thought the actress was making fun of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Before this, Alex also irked some social media users after her video where she was caught on-cam touching the upper part of the breast of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach during an interview went viral.