The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has summoned producers of the noontime show It’s Showtime over the alleged “indecent acts” of hosts Vice Ganda and Ion Perez during one of the program’s segments.
In its Notice to Appear and Testify, the MTRCB summoned the producers for a hearing on Monday morning at the MTRCB office in Timog Avenue, Quezon City.
It was not specified in the notice what particular scene the MTRCB was referring to, but it said the alleged action of the celebrity couple happened during the show’s “Isip Bata” segment on July 25.
A video clip of the couple uploaded on ABS-CBN Entertainment’s YouTube channel showed Vice Ganda and Perez eating icing from a cake off their fingers.
The MTRCB said in its statement that the scene violated Section 3 (c) of Presidential Decree No. 1986. This states that the MTRCB has the power to approve or disapprove material that it considers to be “objectionable for being immoral, indecent, contrary to law and/or good customs, injurious to the prestige of the Republic of the Philippines or its people, or with a dangerous tendency to encourage the commission of violence or of a wrong or crime.”
The Kapamilya network and It’s Showtime have yet to release a statement about the MTRCB summons as of posting.
Netizens defend hosts
Some netizens defended the celebrity couple on Twitter, saying that there was nothing wrong with what they did.
“[MTRCB] justifying their homophobia by using the innocent kids when in fact we know that there is nothing wrong with what [V]ice and [I]on did and of course the kids will not even think of it differently unless parents/guardians will put malice on it and stick it to their minds,” one netizen tweeted.
Another Twitter user also said that he did not see any malice in the couple’s actions.
He then asked the MTRCB if they would do the same if a straight couple would do the scene in question.
Meanwhile, a netizen stressed that it was only the adults who saw malice in the icing scene.
“A child’s eyes are the purest thing in the world. These stupid adults are the one who give sexual connotation about it,” he said.
