Pinoy Big Brother: Connect housemate Justin Dizon drew flak from netizens because of his insensitive comments towards fellow housemate Jie-Ann Armero.
In the live-streaming clip posted by netizen @AnjelDave_, Justin starts by teasing Jie-Ann about her bathing habits.
Then, Justin proceeded to wipe his hands on a towel, resting on Jie-Ann’s head. After that, Jie-Ann replied that she grew accustomed to remarks about her bathing habits. Then, Justin threw an insensitive slur at Jie-Ann, saying that she was dirty. Here is their exchange:
“Pinaguusapan ka namin kasi di ka naliligo,” said Justin.
“Wala akong pakialam,” said Jie-Ann.
“Wait stay there. Di ba ginagawa mo yan sa akin,” said Justin.
“Tubig lang naman yan eh,” said Jie-Ann.
“Pinaglawayan ko,” Justin replied.
“Wala akong pakialam, sanay na ko sa ganyan,” said Jie-Ann.
ang baho ng ugali pic.twitter.com/01DNXRnxTk
— dave (@AnjelDave) December 16, 2020
Netizens took to Twitter to call out Justin’s behavior. Miss Trans Global 2020 Mela Habijan expressed her outrage over the housemate’s remarks.
I just saw the footage of Justin Dizon discriminating Jie-An for not taking a bath.
Sobrang nakakagalit na makakita ang isang baklang nangmamaliit at nanghahamak, gayong alam natin ang pakiramdam na maliitin at hamakin ng mundo!
— Miss Mela Habijan (@missmelahabijan) December 16, 2020
Kerwin King also called out Justin to check his privilege and remind people about respect.
Check your privilege. Kung wala kang respeto, kahit anong ligo mo, wala ka parin respeto. Stop making excuses for questionable and bad behavior.
— Kerwin King (@imkerwinking) December 16, 2020
Jules Guiang suggested that PBB should help Justin understand that his behavior was inappropriate.
Sayang. Sana PBB chose the path of letting Justin understand na mali ang asta niya. Hindi yung siya pa magtuturo. Watched some of his dialogues, mukhang natural siyang ganyan. Mukhang never inintindi ang issues on the ground. pic.twitter.com/N4kgrPmKnR
— Jules Guiang (@julesguiang) December 17, 2020
Other netizens also called out PBB about Justin’s behavior.
https://twitter.com/Papi_pup2020/status/1339269117417639937
https://twitter.com/Deeptruth13/status/1339271869778685952
They also pointed out that Justin should not represent the LGBTQIA+ community inside the PBB house for his behavior.
https://twitter.com/CEASARAWR/status/1339249751745708033
https://twitter.com/alypalad/status/1339247586713034754
Finally, some netizens felt disappointed to know that Justin behaved this way towards Jie-Ann since he was an advocate of social issues and the urban poor on Twitter before his PBB stint.
Very outspoken siya sa political issues. I "believed" that he could be an ally in fighting for the rights of the urban poor. I was wrong. He remained to be an elitist kahit marami na ang nagpuna. It just shows that he is just using the struggles of the poor for his clout. https://t.co/jTh3xQgQ3m
— Froyo (@Bebe_bh0i) December 16, 2020
In the Day 10 episode of PBB, the housemates noticed that Jie-Ann rarely takes a shower. Because of this, Kuya provided Jie-Ann with toiletries for showering, including body wash and a loofa. Then, she told Kuya in the confession room about her situation at home, particularly with the lack of water supply.
“Minsan lang po, kasi wala po kaming tubig minsan dun. Binibili pa po. Yung tubig namin dun, isang container po 12 pesos po. Tas yung container namin, tatlo lang. Para lang po sa pagsasaing, tas paghuhugas, tsaka pang-inom po. Kaya minsan di po ako nakakaligo, kasi maliit lang po yung mga container namin. Tas tinitipid pa po namin yung tubig kasi minsan naglalaba din kami,” said Jie-Ann.
As for Justin, before entering the PBB house, he said that he is fine with bashers and haters as long as he does not hurt anyone.
“Having haters and bashers will really come along the way. But, I always tell myself that that’s okay as long as wala akong sinasaktang kapwa,” said Justin.