news

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

by Mark Angelo Ching posted on March 28, 2011  STATS: 257909 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!"

1  2  3  4  5  6  Next »

more on this story

Show/Hide Comments

367 Comments

  • 67  caboodles28

    03/28/2011 | 10:18 PM
    naaawa ako dun sa bata. malaswa kasi tignan pero di nya alam. tapos sinakyan pa ni willie. ano kaya sabi ni shalani nung nagaganap to? kanina iniharap pa ni willie ung magulang pati 2 bata sa willing willie. e ung tatay parang bakla. so malamang sa kanya nanggaling ung ganung sayaw. ginawa pa example ung going bulilit na mas grabe daw ginagawa. naghuhubad daw mga bata dun. ay obvious naman na scripted ung dialogue. tinra pa channel 2. saka hello! kung pinaghuhubad mga bata sa going bulilit e di malamang nademanda na ch 2! sus! anong klaseng pag iisip yan!
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 66  adoboabogado

    03/28/2011 | 10:06 PM
    *** This comment has been deactivated due to inappropriate content ***
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 65  ledfarani

    03/28/2011 | 10:04 PM
    ang isang bagay... kapag ginagawa ng matanda...kahit mali... ay NAGIGING TAMA SA MATA NG BATA!
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 64  Clara Pastor

    03/28/2011 | 09:54 PM
    nakakaawa yung bata.anong klase magulang meron sya na yun ang iturong dance sa kanya,and about willie who is the host and producer of the show sya pa yung laging nagpapaulit sa dance ng bata shame on you willie,alam mo na bata yun at medyo mahalay na yung dance nya hindi ka man lang gumawa ng move to stop it dahil napakabata pa nya to do that kind of dancing and yet pinaulit-ulit mo pa.know mo na maraming manonood and i feel too na talagang hindi tama makita sa ganoong edad na magsayaw ng ganoon in front of camera.
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 63  tranexamic

    03/28/2011 | 09:49 PM
    CONTINUED...The reality is, the only people getting rich is Willie and TV5, most of the people in the studio will not win any price yet they are not out there looking for a livelihood. That’s why in our country, the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 62  tranexamic

    03/28/2011 | 09:47 PM
    Some people here miss the point. We don’t disagree that Jan Jan has a talent for dancing. And we don’t necessarily put malice however provocative the performance was. But the issue here is that the 6 year old was humiliated on national TV. It came from Willie’s own mouth “Sama ng loob, pero kailangan kong gawin tong gawain sa aking mahal sa buhay”. While it is a sad fact that there are kids in our country who are forced to work like this, Willie should not be glorifying it. “Wow! Dito n'yo lang makikita 'yan. Kahit na nag-o-audition... Meron palang mga ganitong bata na bata pa, nagtatrabaho na.” He should have advised Jan Jan that he should be going to school and aim to improve his future and not resort to doing things kids shouldn’t be doing. But what can we expect from Willie Revillame? He just wants to improve his ratings. He wants to lure the masses with instant cash so they are willing to miss work, or stop looking for a job, humiliate themselves or allow their kids to be humiliated. The reality is, t
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 61  sheryn

    03/28/2011 | 09:46 PM
    hindi ako maka relate kc di na me nanunuod ng show ni willie at good for me otherwise affected na naman sana ako sa isyung ito , just pray for both of them.
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 60  dark_vader

    03/28/2011 | 09:26 PM
    nung nagstart na mag sayaw ung bata... then... napipilitan at naluluha na.... at kaawa awa ung mukha.. di ko na tinuloy na pinanood... naawa ako sa bata... yan ba ang turo ng magulang?? andaming klase ng sayaw pero yun pa ang tinuro...tsk tsk...
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 59  marikit_ako

    03/28/2011 | 09:20 PM
    *** This comment has been deactivated due to inappropriate content ***
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 58  ystrdytdytmrw143

    03/28/2011 | 09:17 PM
    nang makita ko oo nga nakakatawa... pero tama na sana ang isang sayaw, ilang beses ba pina ulit ulit at ginagawang kalokohan, binabastos at kakahiyain ang bata, ngayon dala dala na ng bata ang pangkukutya hindi lang sa kapwa niya bata kungdi sa mga matatanda din, ang nakakahiya ang mga taong edukado na nandoon at nakikitawa walang ginawa. Binigyan ng pera ang bata yes, pero mababayaran kaya ang araw araw na kutya sa kanya hangang sa paglaki nya? ok give and take sisikat ang bata, tama ba na paraan yon pinababa ang pagkatao mo?
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 57  pinoyexchange

    03/28/2011 | 09:03 PM
    *** This comment has been deactivated due to inappropriate content ***
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 56  lizzy1230

    03/28/2011 | 09:01 PM
    may pahid ata tong c willie...kawawa un bata umiiyak na tsk!
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 55  starqueen

    03/28/2011 | 08:55 PM
    I just watched the clip on youtube - all I can say is I pity the boy. Grabe - Willie - if you are into helping the less fortunate - do you need to resort to humiliating and abusing them. The child was not even smiling anymore. Clearly - nahihiya ang bata with what he is doing. You are the adult and obviously you found there was nothing wrong with it. There isnt anything funny with the whole segment. They should lock you up Willie. Shame on you! Dumami nga ang pera mo, pero as usual - breeding and good manners have always eluded you.
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 54  red_radiance

    03/28/2011 | 08:54 PM
    awa ang naramadaman ko nung makita ko yung video
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 53  yaralei

    03/28/2011 | 08:46 PM
    this man is crazy, he thought he could buy anything with his money...ABS are u not glad he is not your employee anymore? paging sa mga sponsors...
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 52  cocojam27

    03/28/2011 | 08:42 PM
    malapit na siguro chugihin ang show niya sa ere kaya lumilikha na naman siya ng ingay? lol.
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 51  pepster31

    03/28/2011 | 08:34 PM
    di na talaga nagbago! me mali din ung production, tinatanong naman nila ang mga yan kung ano ang talent bago pa mag air eh...at si willie, tama na ang isang beses, pero ipaulit ulit mo sa bata tsk tsk tsk...nasa talampakan taalga ang utak ni willie...
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 50  susee12

    03/28/2011 | 08:28 PM
    what else is new...
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 49  rom_05

    03/28/2011 | 08:26 PM
    i thought it was funny. Nung una parang napipilitan nga yung bata but he seems cool enough when he keeps answering Willie's question. Yung mga bata kasi kapag napipilitan lang they usually just stopped kahit sa gitna ng performance or that they will just freeze. If this is gonna be criticize as child abuse then kids imitating adult stuff like batang babae wears skimpy clothes and imitate a Britney or Beyonce dance should also be stop. And I think kasalanan din naman ng media to at matatanda dahil sa kasagsagan ng hayden scandal halos lahat ng shows did this weird sexy dance in tune of careless whisper tapos magugulat sila why this kid is dancing that stuff.
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  
  • 48  nadriamez

    03/28/2011 | 08:25 PM
    ooops Willie did it again!
    Reply |  0 Replies
    0   0   0  

PEP TV

PEP NEWS REWIND

Search Articles by Artist or Full Name

MOST POPULAR

  • Fetching Most Popular

MOST SHARED

  • Fetching Most Shared

MOST TALKED ABOUT

  • Fetching Most Talk About