‘Awit may lawit’: Jasmine Curtis-Smith calls out rapper for transphobic song

Image: Instagram/@jascurtissmith

Jasmine Curtis-Smith slammed a local rapper for making a song allegedly discriminating transgender women, and which has also earned the ire of netizens.

Erich Bongon, who goes by the name Young Vito, sang about how he met a transgender woman at a bar, who he mistook for a biological woman. He posted the video on Twitter last Wednesday, Dec. 4, but has since deleted it due to negative reactions.

“Anong problema mo sa mga magagandang may lawit? Ikaw ata may mali,” Curtis-Smith posted on Twitter last Friday, Dec. 6. “Mag 2020 na soon, tigilan na yang pagkakitid ng utak pls.”

(What is your problem with beautiful transgenders? It seems like it is you who has something wrong with yourself. It will be 2020 soon, please stop being close-minded.)

Referring to Bongon’s now-deleted video titled “awit may lawit,” Curtis-Smith also asked her followers to “report this BS.”

In the video, Bongon sang: “Ang ganda niya pero parang may mali. Noong dumikit meron akong napansin, napakalupit, awit may lawit.”

One @MrOtteam irked Curtis-Smith further, after the former suggested people should just ignore these types of messages.

“Hindi po kasi lahat pumapatol sa ganun. Just sayin’ (People should have just ignored this. Just saying),” the netizen said.

“‘Patol?’ What a word choice. Kung hindi mo type ang trans then wag mo pansinin, politely decline and move on. Di naman kailangan gumawa ng song to make them feel like ‘mali’ sila for being who they have chosen to be,” Curtis-Smith replied.

(Patol [give attention]? What a word choice. If you do not like transgenders then do not give them attention, politely decline and move on. You do not need to write a song making them feel like there is something “wrong” for being who they have chosen to be.)

Bongon has since issued a public apology, saying he has realized how his words affect other people, as posted on his Twitter account last Thursday, Dec. 5.

“My recent video drew a lot of attention recently for both the right and wrong reasons,” he said. “I want to apologize to anyone I have offended with my lyrics for the video.”

https://twitter.com/erichbongon/status/1202411123409973248

“At the time, it seemed like a small thing to mention but I have recently found out how much my words can personally affect other people. For this, I am sorry,” he added. JB

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