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Willing Willie episode sparks criticisms ranging from "poor taste" to "child abuse"

by Mark Angelo Ching posted on March 28, 2011  STATS: 257830 Views | 367 Comments

 

Willie Revillame interviews a six-year-old contestant during the March 12 episode of Willing Willie. This particular segment of the TV5 variety primetime program prompted varied reactions from viewers who perceived it as no less than "child abuse."

Photo By: Screen grab from YouTube

A live episode of TV5's Willing Willie has sparked outrage and re-ignited a hate campaign against the program's host, Willie Revillame.

The March 12 episode of the primetime variety and game show featured a six-year-old boy performing a sexy dance multiple times, to the amusement of the studio audience. (CLICK HERE to watch the video.)

In Willie's words, the kid is acting like a "macho dancer"—or in local parlance, a male prostitute.

The name of the kid is Jan-Jan. His aunt, Jocelyn, accompanied him to Willing Willie's Novaliches studio.

This segment of the episode has been uploaded on YouTube, a video-sharing website, where it attracted a number of viewers. At press time, the video has been viewed 291,889 times.

Many video viewers have posted comments. The majority have commented that the segment was "done in poor taste." A number of others have gone so far as to call it "child abuse." There have been many posts of hurtful name-calling. The viewers who placed blame zeroed in on Willie and the boy's parents.

A few entertainment personalities have already weighed in with their opinions—including Lea Salonga, Jim Paredes, Bianca Gonzales, and Kat de Castro. All of them have said that the incident is nothing short of "child abuse."

TALENT PORTION. Willing Willie is a primetime variety and game show on TV5, aired Mondays to Saturdays. It carries a number of games that aims to amuse the audience and to send them home with attractive amounts of cash.

The main segment is called "Wiltime Bigtime." It pits six contestants with each other, each fitting a chosen theme for the day. The themes determine the set of contestants for the day, and can range from housewives to kids to soldiers to jobless men.

"Wiltime Bigtime" has two rounds: the elimination round "Kantanong" and the jackpot round "Spin a Wil."

Willie introduces the contestants one-by-one during "Kantanong." He also interviews all of them, with the end goal of having them reveal the story of their lives. The contestants are quite willing to share a great deal, too.

The contestants are also asked to show off a talent, which will earn them a cash reward. Willie decides how much money he will give a contestant, depending on the talent shown, crowd approval, and the host's own taste. Talents to be demonstrated can be anything: singing, dancing, acting, or even reciting a poem.

WILTIME BIGTIME. A boy called Jan-Jan was one of the contestants in the March 12 edition of "Wiltime Bigtime." All of the six contestants were children.

[Under this subhead, PEP summarizes the contents of the video from YouTube. The ten-minute video has been edited to include only segments featuring Jan-Jan.]

The small boy carried a blank face when he was called to the microphone. This prompted Willie to call Bonel Balingit, a formal basketball player, from the audience. The tall Bonel then stood beside the short Jan-Jan while Willie said, "Ano Jan? Suntukan, gusto mo? Parang naghahamon ka ng away!"

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367 Comments

  • 107  lilac0808

    03/29/2011 | 01:50 AM
    Ang OA naman ng mga haters dito, humiliation kung pinaglaruan iyong bata, eh kaso ang audience tuwang tuwa, di naman nilait doon sa pagsasayaw, natuwa pa nga at pinupuri kasi cute siya , in his early age nagawa niya iyon... wala naman malisya doon..katuwaan lang.. goodness naman mga tao... kaya nga pinaulit kasi daming natuwa.. asus mga people gusto lang talaga bigyan ng malisya. DKung meron man dapat sisihin dito iyong mga magulang niya, susme mga haters sumasakay na naman kayo sa issue.
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  • 106  parisperezhilton

    03/29/2011 | 01:38 AM
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  • 105  anchor24

    03/29/2011 | 01:34 AM
    kairita din yung magulang ng bata. sila mismo ang naglagay sa anak nila sa sitwasyong yan tapos ngayon iiyak-iyak sila at nakikiusap sa mga tao na intindihin. nung tinuturuang sumayaw ng macho dance di man lang ba nila naisip na baka ikapahamak yun ng anak nila? basta makapagpasok lang siya ng pera bahala na kung anong mangyari sa kanya? pinili nyong magpamilya. responsibilidad nyong buhayin yang bata kahit ano pang hirap nyo sa buhay. eh parang ang gusto nyo yung bata na bumuhay sa inyo. yung tita nung bata, nung nakayakap kay willie at inabutan ng pera eh yumakap pa ulit. mahiya ka naman sa pamangkin mo! sana siya na lang nagsasayaw dun sa gitna tutal kapal naman ng mukha niya.
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  • 104  cinelamour

    03/29/2011 | 01:29 AM
    i suddenly remembered the last time kids were gyrating ala sex bomb dancers. nobody complained.
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  • 103  ehemm

    03/29/2011 | 01:25 AM
    buti na lang i don't have tv and i have no malice lols. but from what i read, i can see a lot of people here who don't like willie and who put malice into each and every little thing they see lols. and never underestimate kids nowadays - they know much more than we think they do, they can do a lot more than we think they can, etc lols
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  • 102  pmarc

    03/29/2011 | 01:16 AM
    It's been a longtime since I watch Willie on TV as I find his show very, very disturbing especially pag pinaglalaruan niya ang mahihirap nating mga kababayan. Most of the jokes that he makes towards them are rude and very hurtful. One time I remembered, may isang matandang babae na contestant sa show na walang ngipin tapos pinagtatawanan at pinapahiya niya tapos binigyan ng pera. Of course, wala talagang choice ang mga contestants because they need the money. HE TREATS POOR PEOPLE LIKE ANIMALS!!! He is very cruel and heartless!!!
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  • 101  gjoel

    03/29/2011 | 01:06 AM
    hello MTRBC??? wag kayong matulog sa pansitan.
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  • 100  gokapamilyago

    03/29/2011 | 01:01 AM
    why talk about the law and about the government here? it's not about that, it's about an innocent child that was clearly used for amusement. if Janjan just did it once to show his "talent", then it might have been a different story...maybe then we could just say "shame on this boy's parents and his aunt" ...but then, willie made him do it some more, not just once, not just twice but 5 times. yes, these shows that dole out money somehow really help some people put food on their tables, but the line between "offensive" and "amusing" should be clearly defined, and i believe the host or hosts are responsible for that.
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  • 99  Americangirl

    03/29/2011 | 12:59 AM
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  • 98  kokuryu

    03/29/2011 | 12:42 AM
    really? usagirl? ok ka lang ba o isa kang diehard fanatic ni willie? really? you did not find this degrading sa isang batang walang kamuwang muwang?
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  • 97  reasonablecommentator

    03/29/2011 | 12:40 AM
    ..i think, you people, before commenting, should read the entire law, RA 7610 before contending that what happened in the video was within the purview of the law.. to my mind, willie did not do anything wrong.. it was for the benefit of the show.. if such acts of the child are within the purview of the law, his parents are ones who should be apprehended.. and in addition, let me remind you that "decency" is relative.. what are not decent acts before are already considered decent in this time.. we must not be so close-minded as if we know everything and anything..
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  • 96  Misty16

    03/29/2011 | 12:39 AM
    The true law breakers re child abuse are rampant in the Phils, how about those prosti establishments? Why the gov't not doing anything about it? Why focus on one person Willie R and station only? Those complaining and the gov't should focus on how to generate jobs in the Phils bec the no.1 problem is hunger, me tumutulong ba? Baka gastusan na naman ng gobyerno itong reklamo ke Willie, itulong nyo na lang sa mahihirap gagastusin nyo.
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  • 95  gokapamilyago

    03/29/2011 | 12:32 AM
    saw the video on youtube and i think it's sick! those who don't see it as offensive or abusive, let me ask you just one thing...if that was your child gyrating and doing those moves, would you be very proud and amused? that arrogant host could have put a stop to that but what did he do? he made the child perform for his and the audiences amusement.
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  • 94  usagurl

    03/29/2011 | 12:26 AM
    talamak talaga ang mga haters ni Willie, itong mga haters na ito may mga kapitbahay kaya itong nabigyan ng ulam pag nagugutom? At least si Willie tumutulong sa gumagawa ng paraan para mag ka bahay at kotse ang mga mahihirap na Filipino. hayz ang mga pinoy talaga magtulongan nalang kayo at wag mag sisiraan para kayo umaasenso sa buhay.
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  • 93  mom_in_ny

    03/29/2011 | 12:23 AM
    Only one word sums up what Willie did to Jan-jan --- DISGUSTING! Imagine kung anak nyo yan. Sobrang nakakaawa yung bata. Hindi po nakakatawa yung ginawa nya. Naiiyak na nga, paulit-ulit pang pinapasayaw. Parang tuwang-tuwa pa si Willie na may macho dancer na ganun kabata. Granted, even if this was done in the spirit of fun, it's still in bad taste pa rin. Really, really disgusting!
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  • 92  bongddjj

    03/29/2011 | 12:19 AM
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  • 91  kokuryu

    03/29/2011 | 12:09 AM
    kung talent pala yun,. sige magperform ang mga bata ng macho dancing sa talentadong pinoy nyo... sige nga... kayong mga ok lang sa ginawa ng bata, humanap kayo ng mga bata and bumuo ng group ng mga batang macho dancers... sige lang... at try nyong kunin ang mga related sa inyo, anak niyo o pamangkin...
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  • 90  remyr12

    03/28/2011 | 11:55 PM
    usagurl hindi ako nakikipagtalo sa iyo. Sinasabi ko lang ang totoo. And hindi rin crab mentality ito. Pure decency lang and for the welfare of the child. Hindi ko tinitira ang pagkataoo ni Willie at ng show but their act and letting this chld do this without even considering the repurcussions or yet even screening the act. Hindi rin malisyoso ang isipan ko. Let the child act his age and perform according to his age. Let a child be a child. Sabi ko nga sa iyo eh, kung gusto mo malaman kung malisyo ang mga tao gawin mo rin ang ginawa ng magulang niya. If you can stomach this and see your child do this and be proud and happy about it then well and good tama ka, mali ako at ang nakakarami.
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  • 89  mysay

    03/28/2011 | 11:46 PM
    77 remyr12 Nice one!!
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  • 88  zkt623

    03/28/2011 | 11:41 PM
    Tama yung isang nag comment dito, kung once lang sana sumayaw yung bata, no big deal yun,but the way i saw the entire youtube,it only shows willies true character, pang kanto, pang masa, walang pinag aralan, no breeding!!!!no wonder love na love sya ng mga masa. inis pa ako dun sa tita nya, tuwang tuwa pa, yikes!common sense lang,kung hindi abused ang bata, BAKIT SYA UMIIYAK????Mag isip nga kayo, utang na loob!
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