Comedian Adam Carolla Bashes Pacquiao, Philippines — and Pinoys Are Mellow About it?

Naturally I have various google alerts about Manny Pacquiao and the Philippines and so I woke this Easter morning to a headline from ABS-CBN News that read: “US Comedian Calls Pacquiao ‘illiterate’, bashes Pinoys”. As I read the article in question I did have a bit of anger rising up inside me, but mostly I recognized that this is Adam Carolla doing what he does–he’s just that kind of comedian who picks a target and trashes it. He’s trashed plenty of Americans in his time. But in my experience Filipinos are very proud and get easily riled up about this kind of thing (remember the row over a dictionary somewhere using the word “Filipina” to describe any generic domestic helper?) Anyway, here’s the article but what is really interesting isn’t the article itself, but the comments from Filipino readers. You see, at the least the first readers of this article aren’t taking Carolla’s bait.

First, the article:

In a radio talk show, radio personality Adam Carolla attacked Pacquiao for refusing to undergo the Olympic-style blood testing, which was demanded by Mayweather.

“Pacquiao doesn’t believe, he says, he doesn’t give blood the month of a fight or a week before a fight because somehow it’s gonna weaken him and what have you,” Carolla said in the on-air radio interview, excerpts of which were aired on ANC’s “Dateline Philippines Sunday.”

“I gotta tell you, if that was a white fighter and probably even a black fighter, if the black fighter was from Atlanta or somewhere like that, someone would go, ‘What the f**k are you talking about? Give your drop of blood. That’s not gonna make a difference,” Carolla said.

“But because he’s from the Philippines and because he’s prayin’ to chicken bones and stuff like that, everyone’s kinda like, ‘Well you gotta respect him for his belief system.’ No you don’t. He’s a f****n’ idiot,” the American comedian continued.

The Pacquiao-Mayweather blockbuster bout, which was originally slated on March 13, did not push through because of the disagreement on the blood testing protocol.

Carolla to Filipinos: Get a life

Carolla, a television host and actor who hosts “The Adam Carolla Podcast,” also made disparaging remarks about Filipinos as well as the Philippines.

“Here’s how you know your country doesn’t have a lot going for it—when everything is about Manny Pacquiao,” he went on. “Get a f****n’ life as a country, all you’ve f****n’ got is this illiterate guy who won’t give up blood who happens to smash other guys in the head better than other people, that’s all you have as the Philippines?”

He even talked about Pacquiao’s bid for the Sarangani Province congressional seat in the May 10 elections.

“Really, you want some guy with brain damage running your country? Why don’t you get your sh*t together?”

He continued: “They got this and sex tours, that’s all they have over there. Get your sh*t together Philippines. Jesus Christ. I mean, again, it’s fine to be proud of your countrymen. But that’s it? That’s all you got?”

Carolla then wondered if there were really “sex tours” in the Philippines, noting that he would like to be booked in such a tour.

It was his co-host who pointed out that the sex tours are held in Thailand. “Nah, same difference,” commented Carolla.

Now for the comments that caught my attention. And by the way, you have to love the way our Pinoy brethren float back and forth between Tagalog and English in the same rant (rendering the two into “Taglish”) …. how many Americans are so fluent in two languages that they can do that. I’ve left the Taglish alone, without attempting to translate the tagalog parts, because you can get the drift and it’s more fun this way.

Let it go
Somewhere, someone in some parts of the world is saying something bad about Filipinos. Why are we so tireless in our pursuit in finding stuffs that offend us? Seek and you shall find. Yes, if we search for offensive comments against Filipinos, we will always find them.

Let it go. Don’t be too shallow. We should not be too bothered by such name-calling. We should instead make it our motivation to strive to one day give that word “Filipino” a better meaning.

In other words, we have to rise above this trifling nonsense!

Submitted by Tikboy23 on Sun, 04/04/2010 – 22:33.
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who gives a sh*t
ganon din naman sinasabi natin kay mayweather, of which this guy is obviously a fan of. wala lang magre-react sa side nila coz nobody’s listening to our rants dito sa pinas hehehe…

anyways, sounds good to bash and flood this guy’s email with hate and vile. pati na rin sa mga kasamahan nya, damay-damay na toh. pass the message din sa mga kakilala natin para malaman ng mamang to sino kinakalaban nya.

this actually deviates the monotony we are having with this election coming up kaya GO AND SPREAD THE FIRE MGA KAPATID!!!! (lolz)

Submitted by master torero on Sun, 04/04/2010 – 22:29.

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To Lito Santos and Alanis
Yes, we could indulge in your proposition that the Philippines has many weak points. Our institutions may be corrupt and inefficient, our value system as a people may be crooked, to say the least, individuals harbor blots in the fabric of their morals and many more unpleasant remarks. And this is the reality. But the question is, who is clean anyway? Could you name any country who doesn’t have corruption, whose values as a people are beyond reproach? Surely you can’t. On the issue of Manny Pacquiao, given he’s scholastic background is far from laudable and this may be a turnoff for many of us. However, it is certain that many people would still vote for him because of the sheer desperation of their situation. For this, we could not just label them as “brain damage(d).” We have to delve deeper into their situation before we could cast any judgment on them. Furthermore, as a retort to Adam Carolla, we Filipinos have life. Our country, though mired in poverty, at least, does not slaughter people for its geopolitical interests, does not start wars and does not parade to the world as champion of democratic values. And we have a lot more than what your scanty intellectual horizon could accommodate, as proven by your conspicuous inability to differentiate Thailand and the Philippines. And, by the way, we are damn proud of Manny Pacquiao!
P.S. At least we don’t yell and cheer to death scripted and choreographed wrestling matches. And now who’s gotten brain damage?

Submitted by audrey on Sun, 04/04/2010 – 22:24.
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CAROLLA PRESENTS VALID POINTS
pinoy here…i actually think adam presents a few valid points…i mean sure his approach was debatable…but hey thats showbiz….he definitely got the publicity he wanted…but when u think about it, almost everything he says really makes you reconsider things…pacquiao running for congress?! that’s embarassing! what credentials does he have besides passing the deped a&e exam and throwing punches? and sex tourism? it is a reality! almost every major city here has a pool of prostitutes!
we really shouldn’t live vicariously through other successful pinoys…they’re the only ones that get paid for what they do, we don’t…so why make it such a big deal? every time a pinoy does something good abroad, we pinoys at home just rave about it! pinoy opens opera, OMG! AMAZING! we’re all of a sudden proud to be pinoy… nicole from the pussycat dolls has pinoy roots, OMG! WOW! GRABE! im so proud to be pinoy because this woman im not related to in any way is a successful artist in the states…lol
and i don’t think we should make this a big deal…coz the more we react to it, the more insecure and belittled we look as pinoys…just brush it off…it really isn’t that big a deal…we’re all entitled to our opinions after all…so let him say want he wants to…the trick is? to not react or to react with class…in other words, don’t be baduy about it…

Submitted by asil k. on Sun, 04/04/2010 – 22:23.
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HINDI DAPAT SERYOSOHIN
This thing na sanabi nitong ay di dapat seryosohin kasi it seemed na fanatic siya ni Mayweather. Other Americans don’t think like that, they have ‘breeding’. I have lots of American friends whose ‘upbringing’ and ‘sensitivity’ on other countries are superb and remarkable. Mr. Carolla resembles that of Mayweather. The hell to him.

Submitted by cangeomic on Sun, 04/04/2010 – 22:20.
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