Alex Calleja accepts Chito Francisco’s apology over car wash joke

Alex Calleja. Image: Instagram/@alexcalleja1007

Alex Calleja urged the public to “move on” as he accepted the apology of Chito Francisco after the latter accused the stand-up comedian of stealing a car wash-related joke performed in Calleja’s comedy special “Tamang Panahon.”

Calleja and Francisco made headlines after the writer accused the “Tamang Panahon” performer of allegedly stealing the latter’s car wash joke in his stand-up comedy special. This led the actor-host to clarify that he already performed the joke years prior along with a warning of possibly lodging a cyber libel complaint against the latter.

This led to the screenplay writer issuing a public apology toward Calleja on his Facebook page on Saturday, February 15, saying he “deeply regrets” his actions.

“I would like to publicly apologize to Alex Calleja, my fellow writer, for accusing him of stealing the car wash joke, when in fact, as he has presented proof and receipts, Alex wrote it ahead, which substantiated that he wrote the joke earlier than mine,” he said.

“It was wrong of me to put him in a bad light with false and baseless allegations. Worse, these comments went viral on social media, which led the public to insult him and question his integrity as a writer. I was careless and negligent in saying that, and did not realize the extent of the hurt and damage that I caused against Alex,” he continued.

In his statement, Francisco said he apologized to Calleja “privately” while urging “bloggers and netizens” to take down their posts related to his earlier accusation in hopes of “minimizing the extent of the damage already suffered” by the stand-up comedian.

“I know what I had said has civil and criminal implications and penalties, which I hope in writing this public apology and posting it, can show my remorse and acknowledgment of my irresponsible act against Alex. I hope that this public statement will peacefully end the issue and settle the matter between me and Alex once and for all,” he added.

The stand-up comedian shared Francisco’s apology on his Facebook page on the same day while basking in the success of his newly released show.

“Apology accepted. Now let’s move on! Salamat Atty. Howie Calleja and Atty. Lorna Kapunan. ‘Tamang Panahon’ is still Number 1 on Netflix,” he captioned the post.

Image: Screengrab from Facebook/Alex Calleja

Earlier this month, Calleja released his comedy special called “Tamang Panahon” on Netflix, which was filmed on his birthday last October 2024. After submitting the finished cut in November of last year, he was informed about its release date a week later.