Image: Instagram/@vivaartistsagency
Director Irene Villamor recently came to the defense of actress Nadine Lustre after a basher called her “flop queen” online. Following the success of “Sid and Aya: Not a Love Story,” which saw Anne Curtis and Dingdong Dantes together on the big screen, Villamor is now working on her next film, “Ulan,” which stars Carlo Aquino and Lustre.
Aquino took to his Instagram recently and shared a photo of him and Lustre shooting a scene for the movie. In Aquino’s post yesterday, Oct. 15, he and Lustre are seen standing in the rain in what looked like a jeepney stop in the University of the Philippines Diliman campus in Quezon City.
“Munting palaruan noong aking kabataan,” Aquino wrote on his caption.
Many fans expressed their support for Aquino and Lustre, with his post garnering tens of thousands of likes since the time of posting. One netizen, however, only had something spiteful to say, as he or she took to Aquino’s comments’ section to brand Lustre as a “flop queen.”
“Box office star with flop queen,” the netizen wrote, tagging director Villamor and Aquino in the process. “Good luck @ayrin and Carlo.”
Aquino and Lustre knew better than to respond to the basher and not feed him/her the attention he/she wanted. Villamor, on the other hand, took the high road when she replied to the basher, telling him/her that the world is already bad as it is.
“The world is already full of hate that any ill wish to anyone should be treated back with kindness,” Villamor wrote back. “With an understanding of the soul. And not with apathy to the human condition.”
Image: Instagram/@jose_liwanag
Villamor also told the basher to “spread love” and not add to the drudgery of the world. “And that is for everyone too. I thank you. My first response and last.”
True to her word, Villamor no longer replied to the basher again, holding tight to her conviction that amid all the hate and vitriol, one still has the capacity for kindness and empathy.
Bashers, it seems, are best treated with silence or kindness. Tempting it may be to clap back at bashers or have a snarky remark reserved just for them in retaliation, taking the high road, as it always has been, remains the better, albeit harder, thing to do. /ra
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