The interview was supposed to clear the situation on TAPE Inc.-produced noontime show has been in.
Former Philippine senator and long-time Eat Bulaga! host, Tito Sotto, took to social media yesterday, April 25, to take a swipe at GMA Network, over its apparent failure to air the ‘uncut’ interview he had with Kapuso journalist, Nelson Canlas.
On Facebook, the TV host posted:
“Kapuso Network, anung nangyari sa pag-ere ng tell-all interview ko sa inyo? Akala ko ba walang kinikilingan?” he asked. The said post has now been deleted, but it is worth noting that it came a day after the former Senator announced, an interview would air on GMA Network, via Nelson Canlas’s program Updated with Nelson Canlas.
Portions of the said interview, as of this writing, were aired on GMA Network’s flagship newscast, 24 Oras. The full interview was also promised to air later in the night.
In response to the delay, Sotto decided to take another interview with TV5’s MJ Marjorie, with whom he shared almost the same details he told GMA’s Canlas.
According to the host of the long-running noontime show, he decided to take the interviews as a response to TAPE Inc’s Chief Finance Officer, Bullet Jalosjos’s interview with Boy Abunda.
“We were taken aback, when suddenly statements are made by a member of the board, that are not only controversial, but also inaccurate and false,” he insisted, countering Jalosjos’s claim that the program has been losing profits.
“Paano mo sasabihing nalulugi ang Eat Bulaga? Baka TAPE ang nalulugi, hindi Eat Bulaga,” he shared. The former Senate President also insisted that the production company owes both Joey de Leon and Vic Sotto, at least 30 million pesos each.
Through Canlas’s interview, Sotto also revealed the alleged missing profits that the show generated from political ads, the last 2022 national election.
“In 2021, the SEC documented that TAPE had a PhP213 million net profit. May diperensya sa financing, sa funding…pero sa kanilang problema ‘yun.”
Sotto noted the more than PhP400 million worth of political ad placements on the show, which mysteriously vanished. He also asserted that the brand Eat Bulaga remains TVJ (Tito, Vic, Joey)’s intellectual property.
Through the interview, Sotto gave the Jalosjos two options: to either leave the show as it is, or see the brand Eat Bulaga and TAPE inc, part ways. Before Jalosjos’s interview with Abundo, rumor had it, the Eat Bulaga pioneer hosts were already in talks with other TV networks, for a possible transfer. Sotto confirmed such a report in his interview with Canlas.
The Jalosjoses are yet to respond to Sotto’s statements.
