VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL AQUÍ
4:45 EST, January 7: WAPA responded to us.
On December 19, Puerto Rico’s WAPA-TV, which broadcasts the controversial “SuperXclusivo” show in Puerto Rico and the United States, was quick to condemn homophobic emails sent out by a show employee in response to a reader question. Those official “SuperXclusivo” emails claimed that supporters of a boycott against the show and its puppet host, La Comay, were all being “influenced by gays.”
The boycott was formed after a December 4 episode of the show crossed the “blame the victim” line yet again when La Comay (played by actor Kobbo Santarrosa) and co-host Héctor Travieso suggested emphatically that slain publicist José Enrique Gómez was looking for trouble. Since that time, over 45 brands have pulled their advertising from the show. In addition, the current web page of the show now contains no advertising at all. (Other online WAPA pages still contain advertising, but not “SuperXclusivo.”)
It has become a public relations problem WAPA-TV president Joe Ramos would rather not have, and it looks like the problem is not going away.
Even after Ramos went on HuffPost Live and suggested that the staffer in question was being taken care of, and even after WAPA told this outlet that they had “taken steps to ensure that no one else receives this type of communication from WAPA” and told ABC News that “no employee of WAPA who sends an email like that has a place at the company,” apparently another SuperXclusivo staffer has continued to post content against LGBT activist, Pedro Julio Serrano, one of the boycott’s most vocal supporters.
Such postings caught the attention of the individual who was the recipient of the original “gay agenda” emails a SuperXclusivo staffer sent to him. According to this individual, the Facebook profile of Dagmarie SuperXclusivo contained recent posts “mocking Pedro Julio Serrano.” Such posts “are in DIRECT violation of agreements that [WAPA] made with GLAAD in 2010. Dagmarie’s page links directly to the official SuperXclusivo page as her employer, and that link cannot be made unless SuperXclusivo makes it, so you cannot deny that she is working in some official capacity for SuperXclusivo.”
On January 3 the individual also shared the following screen capture, which shows Dagmarie SuperXclusivo mocking Serrano for his call to raise funds to promote awareness about equal rights in Puerto Rico. Dagmarie asked people to boycott Serrano. She also shared this image with others pro-Comay pages, which have been known to have followers who use gay slurs (pato, maricón) in Spanish to describe Serrano and those that support the boycott. The pro-Comay pages we checked have deleted those shares.
This was not the first time that the Dagmarie Facebook profile shared pro-Comay content on her page. A few days after the boycott was gaining momentum, the profile also shared the following. The pro-Comay page mentioned in this Facebook share is also known for anti-gay comments.
Once these screen captures were shared with WAPA via email, Dagmarie’s profile was no longer on Facebook. It was deleted on Friday January 4. However, there is a Dagmarie Berrios on Twitter whose profile shows what looks to be the WAPA control room (with TV screens displaying “SuperXclusivo” in the background):
On December 7, a photo of Berrios with another person was tweeted from her profile. It shows them inside a video library (very likely WAPA’s), holding “Todos Somos La Comay” signs, in reference to the #TodosSomosJoseEnrique movement that started when Gómez was killed. (UPDATE, January 7 10:30 am: Berrios’ Twitter account no longer exists.)
We contacted WAPA on Friday morning to get more information about why would a SuperXclusivo staffer was publicly pushing anti-boycott posts and mocking Serrano, especially given what just happened on December 20.
In addition, we also had several questions for WAPA, which included the following:
- Allegations that some of the pro-Comay pages are being administered by people associated with “SuperXclusivo”
- Whether Ramos had ever talked with the boycott organizers after promising to do so on HuffPost Live
- The veracity of an interview request we received via Facebook over the holidays from a person who was claiming to be Kobbo Santarrosa.
We also formally asked for an interview with Ramos and/or Santarrosa.
As of tonight, even though WAPA left us a 12-second voice mail Saturday evening saying to call them back, we contacted them today via text and email, and we have heard nothing back. On Friday, we were told that Ramos was in a meeting all afternoon, but that WAPA wanted to talk with us. We have waited three days after telling WAPA that we would be running this piece. So far, we have heard nothing from them, except for the voice mail.
First, Maria Flores, your posts are embarrasingly ilegible and nonsensical! Your religious fervor obfuscates your intent to be reasonable and succinct. This discussion is about a man (Kobbo) who dresses as a woman on TV, predicates hate and violence towards gay people and those who have become victims of Puerto Rico’s unceasing crime wave…NOT about God….Kobo has also become the epitome of hate when he has bashed and declared Ana Cacho guilty on his insipid program and the majority of Puerto Ricans follow him and his stupid ideas…a pretty bad reflection of PR society in general…Ana is protected by the Constitution until she is charged….I suggest that you use spell-check as your grammar is horrific to say the least and your judgement on this issue is lacking: the Bible is merely a book written 70 years after Jesus died and was written by MAN – so MAN included his prejudices such as homosexuality, prostitution, etc. much like your leader Kobo has done…
I’ve always said that La Comay is nothing but bad news for Puerto Rico it makes people hate themselves and others it only spreads fake rumors and just makes people lives miserable I’m 19 going to 20 and I’ve seen the changes in Puerto Rico and that show is a bad influence it just makes Puerto Rico a horrible place to live I mean there’s a a show called “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” they were mocking La Comay and as Stupid as they are they thought it was something good but no.That show blames people without hardcore evidence and they just buy the ratings I say down with that show once and for all
[…] ENGLISH VERSION HERE […]
[…] afternoon, we received a statement from WAPA in response to our requests for comments about how a staffer for the “SuperXclusivo” show was caught sharing disparaging homophobic conspiracy theories against the Boicot La Comay […]
Mary Flower: “this BOYCOT it is against THE LORD AND TRUE CRISTIANS?….. by THE ANTICHRIST”? So…. for you Mr Santarrosa and La Comay are a good examples to follow? Then let’s promote hate and violence by watching La Comay! And Thank you for promoting the characteristics of a TRUE RELIGION! Just what Puerto Rico needs!!!
[…] latest END story says that SuperXclusivo ran only two ads on Monday’s show. In addition, as Latino Rebels reported on January 6, the online version of the show contains no ads, while other WAPA shows continue to have ads. The […]