Comedienne Ethel Booba recently disowned her controversial Twitter account, revealing that she has never been behind it.
In her 30-minute video on YouTube, Ethel reveals that she has never tweeted on her account famous @iamethylgabison—which had amassed 1.6 million followers—after she disowned it and called it fake.
According to the comedienne, she first discovered the account in 2012 through her friends and siblings. She said that the person behind the account—whom she called “fake Ethel” was a fan she never met in person before.
In 2016, Ethel said that her friend noticed that the fan would grab photos from her Facebook account and post it on the Twitter page. However, she let “fake Ethel” do it because the voice of the tweets was still entertaining and truly reflected the way she speaks.
“Kuhang–kuha niya ang pagsasalita ko. Natuwa naman ako kasi maganda naman, di naman nakaka-harm sa ibang tao. Puro mga quotes, nakakatawa,” Ethel said in her vlog. “Walang politika, walang siraan, nakipag-collab pa nga ako with friends.”
The account got so popular that it got an invitation from Viva to create a book called #Charotism: The Wit and Wisdom of Ethel Booba. Ethel promoted this book, which contained a series of her most famous tweets in 2016.
Since then, Ethel acknowledged the account in media interviews and said that a group of people are collaborating to create the content. She said she would forward possible tweets for the account, but noted that she never had control over it.
However, in 2019, she said her siblings got alarmed “fake Ethel” started posting political tweets and bashing the current administration. The fan, she claimed, had also been sending her alleged contact details—which turned out to be her friend’s—to the account’s followers.
It was when the fan posted a tweet about why Filipinos need to contribute when they are paying taxes, that she reported the account—adding that it was “below the belt” especially because she just promoted a fund raiser for victims of coronavirus disease (COVID).
“Medyo below the belt ang mga tweets niya. Yung twineet niya na ‘nagbabayad naman tayo ng tax, bat ba tayo mag-aambag?’ Nanggigil ako,” she said.
She also admitted that she supported President Rodrigo Duterte during the 2016 election and denied rumors that she has gotten death threats pushing her to disown the account. She also refuted claims that she is being paid by the “dilawan” liberal camp.
“Wag kayo magalit sa akin. Kaya dapat itanong niyo muna ako. Kung may direct contact ako sa kanya, pagmumurahan ko na yan eh. Dapat nga di tayo Duterte or dilawan, dapat nga ngayon magkaisa tayo. Dapat mag tulong tulong tayo,” she added.
According to Ethel, the only social media accounts that are officially hers are her Facebook account, Youtube, and Instagram accounts.
“Please stop it. Lesson learned, huwag basta basta maniwala, kahit sabihin na #1 fan. Huhudasin ka padin pala sa dulo,” she said in the vlog.
