Boy Abunda clarifies Vanessa Hudgens was ‘not offended’ with unscripted ‘Fast Talk’ at press conference
Vanessa Hudgens and Boy Abunda. Screenshot from Ervin Santiago / INQUIRER Bandera
Even if “Fast Talk” was not included in the script of Vanessa Hudgens’ media conference in the Philippines, Boy Abunda clarified that the Hollywood actress was not offended by the popular segment.
Abunda made the clarification during the April 11 episode of “Fast Talk With Boy Abunda,” amid rumors that the Fil-Am actress was offended with the segment’s rapid-fire questions during the media conference of her upcoming travel documentary.
“May mga usapan na na-offend diumano si Vanessa Hudgens because I did ‘Fast Talk’ and na-upset si Direk Paul Soriano that caused ‘yung pag-cut ng one-on-one interviews with the members of the media. Tama po, ‘Fast Talk’ was not part of the press conference,” he said.
“[During the media conference], I was ending the interview, then somebody shouted gently, ‘Tito Boy, Fast Talk!’ Si Vanessa Hudgens, nagtanong. ‘Boy, what is Fast Talk?’ Very quickly, ipinaliwanag ko, ‘It’s rapid-fire questioning, and then you tell me the first thing that comes to mind,’ so tinuloy ko na po,” he further explained.
Among the questions that the TV host asked during the segment were love or career and love or money, before he proceeded with the “sexy questions.” Despite this, he pointed out that there was “no indicator” that Hudgens was “offended” with them.
“There was no indicator that Vanessa Hudgens was offended. She was having fun. The vibe was happy. You know why? She’s an intelligent, very brave girl. Walang indication that she was offended. And she was not offended,” he said.
“And I would know [because] I’ve been interviewing people for over 30 years and I would know [if one is offended. Hindi ako namimilit. I don’t push, lalo na if a ‘Fast Talk’ question makes someone uncomfortable,” he further added.
No bad blood with Paul Soriano
Abunda also addressed speculations that Presidential Adviser on Creative Communications Secretary Paul Soriano was supposedly offended with the length of the interview, saying that there is no bad blood between them.
Soriano was tapped to direct the Hollywood actress’ travel documentary, which revolves around the latter getting in touch with her Filipino heritage in Manila and Palawan.
“Na-upset daw si Direk Paul because I caused some one-on-one interviews to be shortened, hindi ko po alam ‘yun. I was given a program flow, I was given a working script. Lahat po ‘yun, I covered. But an interview is more than just what is provided in a program flow,” he added.
The TV personality shared some of the things he learned about Hudgens during her visit to the Philippines, including her newfound love for tinikling and chicken adobo despite being a pescatarian. He also noted that he was fed some questions about the actress considering to marry her fiancé, professional baseball player Cole Tucker, in Palawan.
Abunda then stressed that he respected Hudgens’ decision to respectfully not entertain the questions about her partner as she preferred to keep the details of her life private. He also clarified that the actress’ team was “very happy” with the outcome of the media conference.
“I know my boundaries. So instead, I wanted people to know that being a Fil-Am, Vanessa Hudgens is one of the biggest Filipino-American actors in Hollywood,” he said. “[Vanessa’s team] was very, very happy with her visit in the Philippines, and how the press conference was handled. If Paul had problems with me, kaya hindi ako naniniwala that he had an issue with me because he could have called me out. If he was bothered, [or] pissed with ‘Fast Talk,’ I would’ve felt it,” he said.
Hudgens visited the Philippines for the first time in March 2023, where she was named as the global tourism ambassador for the Philippines during a courtesy call in Malacañang. EDV
