BINI Jhoanna breaks silence on controversial street food video
BINI's Jhoanna Robles has responded to the controversy surrounding the group's street food video, reflecting on the backlash and sharing the lessons they’ve learned from the experience.
The girl group drew the ire of some online users when they appeared on the People Vs Food YouTube channel in July to try out Filipino snacks. Jhoanna shared she was shocked to see their 25-minute street food video had gone viral after being trimmed to just two minutes.
"Puro 'yung mga reaction nga lang namin na pangit 'yung nandoon, nagulat ako," Jhoanna said during her interview on Ogie Diaz's vlog. "Yung mga tao, feeling ko hindi na rin pinanood 'yung buong video," she added.
"May mga explanation kami, ang nakita lang nila 'yung talagang negative side. Parang natatawa lang din ako sa mga comments ng iba na nakisakay sa hate train, na feeling ko hindi naman pinanood ‘yung buong video."
She stressed that their reactions came from how the food presented to them tasted, not from Filipino street food in general.
“Iba po ‘yung pag-prep sa food. Kumbaga, iba talaga ‘yung ditong gawang 'Pinas,” BINI's leader added. "Ang ni-reactan namin 'yung mismong food na 'yun, hindi 'yung buong betamax sa buong mundo."
Jhoanna also responded to comments that tagged the group as "maarte."
"Totoo naman po, maarte naman po kami,” she replied with a laugh. "Siyempre, nag-i-English kami kasi nasa ibang bansa kami, para sign of respect din po du’n kasi nag-guest po kami," she added. BINI was on the North American leg of their "BINIverse" world tour at the time of filming.
“Kahit paano naman po, nakakapag-salita naman po kami ng English kahit kaunti lang ‘yung baon namin,” she explained.
When asked about where she thinks the hate train for the group comes from, Jhoanna acknowledged that it may be because of the consecutive issues they've faced.
"Kahit 'yung iba gawa-gawa na lang, feeling ko doon na ginawa na lang kaming punching bag ba," she said.
After the backlash, Jhoanna shared the lesson they had learned from their recent issue.
"Siguro hindi lang kami naging careful kung paano kami nag-react since nasa ibang lugar kami. Ganon ko na lang po siya inisip. Gets ko na 'yung galit nila kasi sana kahit papano finilter namin. Gets ko 'yung pagiging authentic namin pero nga dahil nasa ibang lugar po kami, sana kinontrol namin kahit konti. 'Yun naman po 'yung learning namin doon," she said.
BINI, through their legal counsel Atty. Joji Alonso, has taken legal action against an unnamed individual for unjust vexation after the person made a negative edit of the girls' People Vs Food appearance.
