Public officials, when scrutinized, should not resort to power-tripping, Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña said after the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) summoned a production house due to a content creator’s rant.
Cendaña was referring to MTRCB’s letter to Viva Communications Inc., seeking a dialogue with the company over influencer Sassa Gurl’s expletive-laden rant against the board during the premiere of ‘Dreamboi.’
Viva President Vincent Del Rosario was invited to a meeting, which the MTRCB said the meeting seeks to promote mutual understanding and responsible conduct in public events.
But Cendaña noted that Sassa Gurl’s rant was a valid criticism about the double-X rating initially given to Dreamboi, a queer film which is Viva’s entry to the CineSilip Film Festival 2025.
‘When public officials are criticized, they shouldn’t respond with power tripping. Makinig at umunawa (Listen and understand why),’ Cendaña said in a statement.
‘Queer narratives have long been dismissed as promiscuous. The Dreamboi team did an excellent job in flipping this script. Para sa totoong malaya at makulay na sining (For a true free and colorful art),’ he added.
The MTRCB did not specify who was the content creator who cursed at the agency, but a video of Sassa Gurl cursing the MTRCB during Dreamboi’s premiere made the rounds of social media.
The internet personality called out the MTRCB for giving ‘Dreamboi’ an X rating when it was not anywhere near a porn movie. She claimed Dreamboi received an X rating twice from MTRCB before it got an R-18 rating on the third attempt.
This is not the first time that MTRCB and personalities from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA+) community were embroiled in controversy.
In September 2023, noontime show It’s Showtime was suspended by MTRCB for 12 airing days after it received multiple complaints over the alleged ‘indecent acts’ of hosts Vice Ganda and Ion Perez, including other warnings of ‘inappropriate language’ in previous episodes.