The recent boycott against WAPA-TV’s “SuperXclusivo” and the controversy surrounding Puerto Rico’s top-rated show made the December 16 edition of The New York Times, and the Times story confirmed that WAPA’s president has considered canceling the show.
After summarizing the events surrounding the origins of the boycott and the death of pubicist José Enrique Gómez, which continues to get more brands to pull its ads from the show (this weekend, it was Burlington Coat Factory), the Times piece concluded with comments made by Joe Ramos, WAPA’s president. This is what the story says:
Mr. Ramos said the network was going to scrutinize La Comay’s talking points more closely because of the boycott. (She does not use a script.) Mr. Ramos said the company tends to review in advance anything that could be considered controversial but that in the case of Mr. Gómez Saladín, it had not.
Mr. Ramos said he respected the decision of the advertisers that had removed their commercials from the show.
He agreed that maybe it was time to consider whether the benefits of keeping La Comay on television outweighed drawbacks. “I can assure you that I think of that a lot, the owners of WAPA think of that,” he said. “There has to be a breaking point where you say is this really worthwhile?”
The last paragraph is quite telling, and the Puerto Rican press has already begun to report what Ramos said. El Nuevo Día published a story about the Times story and has also reported that Ramos has thought about canceling the show, which is broadcast both in Puerto Rico and in the United States through WAPA América.
In the meantime, supporters of La Comay continue to post disturbing reasons as to why they want to keep the show on the air. Over the weekend, a pro-Comay group was criticized for bringing the recent shooting tragedy at Sandy Hook into the conversation, and now another pro-Comay group posted the following image, suggesting that the boycott is being run by a “gay agenda” and if the show were to get cancelled, it would lead to gay pride parades, gay orgies, and gay prostitution on the island:
The following image posted on the pro-Comay page says the following: “Comay, you are so right! The gay movement is behind the Comay boycott! The question is: What do the people want! 1) La Comay and her truths… 2) A Gay parade promoting orgies and prostitution. That is the question! Demand respect from those who do not respect…”
If I were WAPA, I would suspend the show for awhile. Anybody remember when Andy Rooney was suspended by 60 minutes? It put things on pause, showed the network’s disapproval, and led to some hype when he returned making an apology on his first segment back. I’m not saying this to appease the people who are saying these idiotic things or to defend the COMAY statements. I’m just saying what the network could do from a tactical standpoint. Also, I guess I am not a huge fan of “all or nothing” repercussions (e.g. somebody needs to be fired, something needs to be canceled, etc.)
[…] Times, Joe Ramos, President of Puerto Rico’s WAPA-TV and WAPA América, admitted that he had considered canceling the “SuperXclusivo” show with puppet host La Comay in response to a very public boycott that has led to major brands […]
[…] person’s name has been withheld, but in the interest of showing yet another example of how the show believes that the current boycott against it is part of a “gay agenda,” […]
[…] to the boycott. Recently, a pro-Comay page suggested that if La Comay were canceled, it would be a victory for the “gay agenda.” The offending image has been deleted from the pro-Comay’s group Facebook […]
[…] to the boycott. Recently, a pro-Comay page suggested that if La Comay were canceled, it would be a victory for the “gay agenda.” The offending image has been deleted from the pro-Comay’s group Facebook […]
[…] over 1,850 votes tabulated, our online community spoke and chose #BoicotLaComay as the recipient of our inaugural Rebelde […]
La Comay show is the best. Funny, Honest. I wish I could see daily. Do not cancel it. That’s a bad idea. I see friends even watching old programs bc they enjoy it. 5 stars*****