The hosts of noontime show “Eat Bulaga” have been slammed after advising a gay father to “go back in the closet” to save his children from being ridiculed.

In its May 22 episode during its “Problem Solving” segment, a gay man named Diamond sought the advice of the Eat Bulaga hosts on how he should spare his three children from being bullied. He said that since his eldest child was about to enter school, his child might be ridiculed by his classmates for having a gay father.

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Eat Bulaga host Jose Manalo began his advice by saying: “Hindi mawawala yan. Hindi mawawala yan na darating sa mga bata yan … Ang solusyon, ikaw: Ikaw ang unang gagawa ng solusyon. Kaya mo bang—hindi naman binabago ang pagkatao mo; beki ka pa rin, yan ang gusto mo, nagkaanak ka—pero magagawa mo ba na hindi ka na mag-gaganyan ng hitsura? Pero beki ka pa rin (It cannot be avoided. The solution starts with you. Can you—without changing your identity, you’re still gay, that is what you wanted after all since you had children—can you change how you look? But you are still gay).

To which cohost Sen. Tito Sotto said: “Sa madaling salita, ibalik sa closet! (In other words, get back in the closet!)”

Diamond then replied: “Kaya ko po. Kakayanin ko po siyempre kahit mahirap po talaga. Kakayanin ko po para sa mga anak ko (I can do it. I have to try even if it is difficult. I will do it for my children).”

Manalo added that Diamond should be wary of telling signs that his sons might also be gay.

“Baka sabihin ng mga anak mo ‘Bakit tatay ko lang ba (ang bading)? Bading din kami.’ Mas nakakatakot ’yun (Your children might say, ‘Is our father the only gay in the family? We are also gay. That is more frightful),” Manalo said.

The father said that should his children choose to be gay, he would support them just like what his father did.

The comedian then said: “Bakit pa kasi nag-asawa ito (Why did this man get married)?”

The opinions of the variety shows’ hosts disgusted Cha Roque, who penned an open letter scoring the show and its hosts for making homosexuality appear as “a disease and that he should keep it from his kids so as not to ‘infect’ them with it.”

“It was an immature and uneducated move. Eat Bulaga is an institution, you have millions of followers spanning the whole Philippines. Needless to say, the personalities in your show are influential. You even have a senator blatantly telling this guy to go back to the closet. Don’t you have gay or lesbian colleagues or staff in your show? What if the participant was a lesbian mom? Would you ask her to go back to the closet as well? Would you say the same to Aiza Seguerra if she was in the situation?” Roque’s open letter read.

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Roque, who described herself as a “lesbian mom” to her 11-year-old child, said members of the LGBT did not want to hide and wanted to be accepted.

“You are not in the position to tell this guy ‘bumalik sa closet’ or ‘bakit kasi nag-asa-asawa’ or threaten to hurt him (jokingly). You are promoting a culture of hate. You are telling the world that corrective beating up is okay to make a gay guy become manly. You are telling the world that the only key to be accepted is to hide who you truly are,” she added.

Her open letter has been “liked” by 147 people and was shared 1,243 times as of posting time.

Eat Bulaga has not yet issued a statement in reply to Roque’s open letter. AJH/RC

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