Sen. Joseph Victor 鈥滼V鈥� Ejercito. FILE PHOTO / Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Senator JV Ejercito slammed the viral video of drag queen Pura Luka Vega singing along to a remix of 鈥淎ma Namin,鈥� otherwise known as The Lord鈥檚 Prayer.
The video, which was posted by Vega herself, shows the drag queen dressed up as the Black Nazarene while singing along to a remix of The Lord鈥檚 Prayer in a bar. As of writing, the footage has already garnered more than 14 million views.
Reacting to this post, Ejercito, in a tweet, on Wednesday labelled the act as blasphemous.
This is blasphemy.
This disrespects my faith.
This went overboard.
鈥� JV Ejercito (@jvejercito)
鈥淭his is blasphemy. This disrespects my faith. This went overboard,鈥� he said.
A quick Twitter search also shows that the opinion of internet users regarding the performance is divided. Twitter user @fonzydgreat said 鈥淸Vega] is not worthy of respect if she disrespect[s] other people鈥檚 beliefs.鈥�
https://twitter.com/fonzydgreat_/status/1678762596550447104?s=46
Another surfer 鈥� @gg41treasures 鈥� pointed out that 鈥淧rayer is not entertainment. The mass is not a costume party. The church is not a club.鈥�
https://twitter.com/gg41treasures/status/1678673862538706944?s=46
While others are offended, some find the performance amusing and fun.
Quoting Vega鈥檚 tweet, social media user, @heymrstan, said the controversy that the footage brought proved that 鈥淰ega鈥檚 art is effective,鈥� adding that it is 鈥渁n art that sparks conversations, an art that is not afraid, an art that makes [people] think and reflect what [they] believe in.鈥�
It just means that Ate Luka鈥檚 art is indeed effective.
An art that sparks conversations, an art that is not afraid, an art that makes us think and reflect what we believe in ourselves.
鈥� mrs tan// (@heymrstan)
This was backed by twitter user @_nickdeocampo who stated that 鈥渁rt is meant to comfort the disturb[ed] and disturb the comfortable.鈥�
art is meant to comfort the disturb and disturb the comfortable
check ur privilege po, dami dami issues on hate crimes targeted towards the member of the community, ngayon kayo iiyak, pls pls pls kaya Im really faith>religion
鈥� Nick (@_nickdeocampo)
Vega, in a Twitter space on Tuesday, clarified that she was not trying to demean religion through her performance.
鈥淢y intention was never really to mock per se. In my mind, queerness has always been there, I feel like it鈥檚 my way of actually praising God. I don鈥檛 know, I mean, I was very careful when I did that because I don鈥檛 want it to come across as something that鈥檚 very offensive, but then again it鈥檚 still taken as something that鈥檚 very offensive. Was it offensive because I am a queer individual or was it [due to] other factors?,鈥� she said.
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