We’re adding this to the list of things we did not expect to happen in 2020. Comedienne Ethyl Gabison, known by her stage name Ethel Booba, is now denouncing her Twitter throne. The now-deleted Twitter account with the handle @IamEthylGabison was chock-full of witticisms and satirical political commentary that was a hit with a ton of netizens. However, Gabison now claims that she wasn’t behind all those tweets.
She posted a warning on Instagram last week with the caption, “BEWARE of this FAKE! twitter!” But not everyone was sold on this. Some speculated that she was pressured into doing this and possibly feared political persecution. After all, eight years is a long time before disowning a popular account and the tweets were published in her book called “#Charotism: The wit and wisdom of Ethel Booba.” Netizens also collected receipts of her confirming that she was working with other people behind the account.
July 2018: Ethel Booba with Darla. pic.twitter.com/L5WOKB0yXM
— Zaldy Tor (@zaldytor) April 14, 2020
July 2018: Ethel Booba with Darla. pic.twitter.com/L5WOKB0yXM
— Zaldy Tor (@zaldytor) April 14, 2020
So, Gabison took to YouTube to put the issue to rest. She reveals that she didn’t personally know who was running the account but the person in question befriended her friends and family. She admits that she wasn’t fond of using Twitter because it was too negative for her. “Bakit parang ganun sa Twitter? Puro war. There’s so much hatred in their hearts,” she says.
In the video titled “Ethel Booba Vlog#50 THE REVELATION,” she says that a fan copied her way of tweeting and she let it slide since the initial tweets were funny and weren’t political. She shared that earlier she simply thought, “Nakalibre ako. Yung iba nga nagbabayad ng admin eh.”
Although Gabison admits that she “feeds” the account manager some funny lines through her family members who knew how to contact the anonymous tweeter, she talked about how some of the more recent posts were below the belt and clashed with her own political views. She clarified that she claimed the rights to the book published by VRJ Books Publishing, Inc. since she was just being imitated by the person who created the account. That individual has yet to release a statement of their own.
She ends the video by saying, “Eto para matapos ha. Sa mga nagtatanong kung anti-Duterte ako, kalkalin ninyo yung Instagram ko. I-backread ninyo yung Facebook ko, yung mga history ko. Makikita nyo ang tunay na kulay ko. Hindi ako anti-Duterte. Tigilan niyo ako sa mga hidden agenda niyo.”
It’s time to face the music, political Twitter. It looks like we’re just going to have to find another personality to root for. Juan Miguel Severo seems to fit the bill. What do you think?
Photo courtesy of Ethel Booba’s Instagram account
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