Image: Instagram/@raphaelrobes
Actor Raphael Robes’ food delivery guy costume in Star Magic’s recent Halloween ball drew widespread attention. Some were amused, others were appalled, and a few were just plain confused.
The talent management group organized Black Magic 2019, a Halloween party featuring ABS-CBN’s brightest stars last Oct. 20 at Resorts World Manila. The actors and actresses who attended dressed in spooky, creative costumes.
Some took inspiration from comic books, TV and film, as in the case of Kathryn Bernardo who dressed as Poison Ivy, and Maymay Entrata who came in as Saitama from “One Punch Man”. But it was actor Raphael Robes’ look as a GrabFood delivery guy which roused the most intense reactions from netizens.
Daniel, Patrick, Kathryn, Maymay, Kim, Joe and Raphael#BlackMagic2019#StarMagicHalloween
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For more exclusive happenings and updates, tune in and subscribe to Star Magic's Youtube (https://t.co/5U7En8bnpq) and follow @starmagicphils on Instagram an… https://t.co/GKEzEMAYwq pic.twitter.com/2fb1WGS9uh— Star Magic (@starmagicphils) October 21, 2019
Robes wore a green long-sleeved shirt with GrabFood’s logo on the sleeves and paired it with black pants bearing three white stripes.
He accompanied his outfit with a large green delivery bag, which also carried the delivery services’ logo. Robes also posed with another actor, Jameson Blake, who dressed as Doctor Strange, posting the moment on his Instagram Story yesterday, Oct. 21, with the message, “Don’t you dare cancel.”
Image: Instagram/@raphaelrobes
Netizens quickly took to Twitter to air their thoughts on Robes’ choice of attire. The question, “Should the uniform be a Halloween costume?” recurred in most of the discourses.
“Di ko magets yung issue with Raphael Robes? Hindi naman culture appropriation nor racist yung costume nya, so anong issue? Next year dress as yourself na lang para safe,” said Twitter user @sejuninthezone yesterday, Oct. 21.
(I don’t understand the issue with Raphael Robes[.] It’s not culture appropriation nor is the costume racist, so what’s the issue? Next year just dress as yourself so it’s safe.)
https://twitter.com/sejuninthezone/status/1186193831835758592
“Anong insensitive sa GrabFood delivery uniform na gawing costume? E matagal nang costume ang mga uniform ng mga uniform ng nurse, construction worker, pilot, clown, police, atbp. Pano naiba ang Grabfood?” he asked.
(What’s insensitive about [the] GrabFood delivery uniform made into a costume? For the longest time, uniforms of nurses, construction workers, pilots, clowns and the police, etc., have been used as costumes. How is [the uniform of a] GrabFood [delivery man] any different?)
https://twitter.com/EdBiado/status/1186173277821009920
“If it’s just a firefighter or a nurse or a [GrabFood] delivery guy costume, it should have been worn, I guess, on [Labor Day],” one Rich (@RichFlavored) claimed, explaining today, Oct. 22 that “Halloween costumes should at least be worn and created with a level of gore and camp.”
https://twitter.com/RichFlavored/status/1186455913739087872
A new perspective was added to the discourse as one @koronelmagnet thought that Robes may have been using his platform to help raise awareness about unjust order cancellations.
“[Using] such an event such as #BlackMagic2019 to tell people not to cancel GrabFood order kase drivers ang kawawa (because the drivers are [the ones who] suffer),” she stated in her Oct. 21 post with a screen capture of Robes’ now-deleted post.
Using an event such as #BlackMagic2019 (#StarMagicHolloween) to tell people to not cancel GrabFood orders kasi drivers ang kawawa
SHET I STAN ONE (1) BABIE pic.twitter.com/P2FpxN05tR
— yuu 🌺 嵐と共に (@koronelmagnet) October 21, 2019
Robes has since deleted from Instagram his photo which showed him wearing the uniform. He is also yet to reply about the issue, as of this writing. JB
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