Former TV personality Jude Bacalso explains viral photo of allegedly having wait staff stand for two hours and lecturing the restaurant staff after being ‘misgendered.’
Bacalso posted a public apology on Facebook addressing the staff and customers who witnessed the incident.
“My apologies also to the rest of the staff who are disheartened by the way things have escalated, as well as to the customers present at that time. This is a huge chunk of humble pie that I must ingest because I have erred,” Bacalso said.
Bacalso also made a personal apology to the restaurant staff after settling the issue with the management.
“Earlier today, I sat down to quietly settle the matter with the restaurant management, one crew and the store supervisor who were present last night. The waiter I had a disagreement with was not present. After each one of us aired our sides, I am happy to share that we have agreed to pursue together more inclusive practices in the restaurant,” Bacalso said.
“I also realized that in the impassioned pursuit of my advocacy, I could have done with a little measure of kindness, sadly quite absent in the ruckus this has all unnecessarily created when it was made public without our knowledge,” Bacalso added.
Bacalso became the center of controversy when a social media user posted a photo showing the Cebu personality talking to a restaurant staff, who had been standing for about two hours, after being called “sir.”
“It was he who chose to stand in front of me as we waited for input from management, who I attempted to contact,” Bacalso said.
The viral post, gaining round 65,000 reactions and 21,000 comments, sparked outrage among netizens, saying that correcting someone who unintentionally misgendered a member of an LGBTQIA+ community should still be done in a respectful manner.
