Rabiya Mateo (left) and IU. Images: Instagram/@rabiyamateo, @dlwlrma
Rabiya Mateo denied allegations that she and Jeric Gonzales watched IU’s Bulacan concert for free, saying they bought tickets for the show and “never demanded” any VIP treatment.
Rumors of Mateo and Gonzales demanding VIP treatment at the South Korean singer-songwriter’s concert, held at the Philippine Arena last June 1, stemmed from a fan account, Hyein’s modeling agency, on Facebook.
The post claimed that the couple was accused of making a sudden entrance at the concert venue in hopes of seeing IU in person. Despite not disclosing their names, the fan account shared a screenshot of Gonzales’ Instagram Story in the comments.
Image: Screengrab from Facebook/Hyein’s modeling agency
Image: Screengrab from Facebook/Hyein’s modeling agency
This led Mateo to dispel the rumors on her Instagram Story on Monday, June 3, in which she pointed out that she and Gonzales had “worked hard” to get tickets for P12,000 each.
“We wanna clarify that the rumors circulating are not true. We bought the tickets for P12,000 each. Just like the rest of them, we worked very hard to afford the ticket and never demanded for any VIP treatment but we would like to commend the ushers for helping us find our seats,” she wrote.
Image: Screengrab from Instagram/@rabiyamateo
In separate posts, Mateo said the admin of the fan account apologized for making up rumors “out of hearsay.”
“The admin of this page already apologized to us. None of these is true or real… the admin took responsibility for saying she doesn’t know the usher and made the post out of hearsay,” she said.
Image: Screengrab from Instagram/@rabiyamateo
The beauty queen-turned-actress pointed out that they were initially scammed of available tickets while sharing a photo of their tickets, saying no such VIP treatment took place in trying to get a seat at IU’s show.
“We’ve been scammed the first time we tried to buy these tickets. Just like the rest of you, we had a hard time looking for available tickets. Contrary to what most of you think, walang artista-artista sa paghahanap (there’s no such thing as special treatment in getting them),” she wrote.
Image: Screengrab from Instagram/@rabiyamateo
Mateo then warned netizens to be wary of fake news and that not everything “heard should be posted online at the expense” of others. She also recalled a time when she lined up to get tickets for the shows of Lee Min-ho, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran.
“While others are so quick to have assumptions without getting their facts right shows how people believe what they see online. Not everything you read is true… Not everything you hear should be posted online at the expense of other people,” she said. “However, we have laws to protect the innocent and punish those who are guilty.”
“People saw us pano kami luminya kay Lee Minho, Coldplay, at Ed Sheeran. Never kami nagpa-VIP sa mga concert,” she added. (People saw how we lined up for Lee Minho, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran’s concerts. We never demanded VIP treatment.)
Image: Screengrab from Instagram/@rabiyamateo
The fan account’s admin has since apologized for making up rumors “on impulse” without clarifying the side of the couple in a Facebook post, and instead basing her claim on hearsay.
“Per your clarifications, you personally bought the tickets and didn’t demand them for free,” they wrote. “I acted on impulse and didn’t mean any harm to the said couple… we sincerely apologize for the mistake. We hope this will help clear out their names.”
IU recently held her “H.E.R.E.H.” concert in Bulacan where she performed her hit songs “Blueming,” “Lilac,” “Celebrity,” “Love Wins All” and “Strawberry Moon,” to name a few.
The singer-songwriter and actress also did a cover of SunKissed Lola’s smash hit “Pasilyo” at the sold-out show.
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