Let me preface this by pointing out two things. First, despite occasional protestations to the contrary (most often when I am being roped into watching movies I simply don’t get), I am a fan of Filipino culture. There is something about us that is extremely fascinating to me but which I cannot quite put a finger on. On good days, I think it’s our joie de vivre; on other days, I am utterly convinced that it is our fascination with train wrecks, especially when they’re unfolding right before our eyes. And second, well, it’s KC and Piolo, man! In my line of work, hard news is what I am expected to subsist on. And admittedly, news is good food. But, as I tweeted a friend recently, even a five-star meal can be improved by a desert of simple jello. And this is jello of the best kind.
With the disclaimers out of the way, en garde!
My problem with the television drama that had the twitterverse in an uproar this lazy Sunday afternoon is that it just seemed so unfair. Strip away the personalities involved – and in the process, eliminate the influences and biases of fandom – and what we witnessed was a girl, at the ragged tail end of a failed relationship, insinuating (one might even say broadly hinting) that her former beau was gay. If our culture were not what is, the accusation might have well been that the guy was lousy in bed.
In fact, given exactly how our culture is, it would have probably been kinder if she had just said that he didn’t deliver in the sack. As it is, her tears pretty much served to confirm what people were already suspecting. The question is, did she have the right to do that?
Coming out is an intensely personal experience. Neil Patrick Harris – the name most mentioned in conjunction with today’s semi-revelations – did it with characteristic panache. What else would you expect from the guy for whom no medium has yet been created that he cannot entertain us in? Others have chosen to live lives of quiet desperation rather than risk the outcome. Assuming that he is gay (which would be a terribly unfair assumption), who’s to say that Piolo didn’t want to stay in the closet?
To be perfectly fair, I don’t think KC said much. She certainly stopped short of actually outing Piolo. But coming as her revelations did, on the heels of swirling rumor, anything less than a categorical declaration that lifestyle choices had nothing to do with the break-up would inevitably lead to the conclusion that one of them was gay. Unfortunately for Piolo, he got stuck holding the rainbow banner.
Which brings me back to the question: did she have the right to do that to him?