On April 10, Ethel Booba disowned the popular Twitter account @IamEthylGabison.
The eight-year-old profile with 1.6 million followers — famous for its comedic yet controversial posts — was deactivated after she pleaded to her 40,000 followers on Facebook to mass report the account. (READ: ‘Stop using my name’: Ethel Booba says popular Twitter account is not hers)
Late Tuesday, Ethel released a video on her YouTube channel explaining why she asked the profile to be taken down.
The comedienne admitted that she once had her own Twitter profile @IamRealGabisonEthyl but after witnessing so much “hatred” in the platform, she deactivated the account.
After leaving Twitter, a new account which claimed to be a fan of hers appeared. Ethel said this account even followed her siblings and began contacting them.
“Wala akong direct contact sa kanya. Ang sabi niya lang sa direct message niya sa mga kapatid ko, ‘I am fan,’” she said.
Ethel shared that she let the fake profile slide since it only posted comedic content, adding that she even “fed” it funny statements to post.
“Natuwa naman ako. Okay naman, di naman nakaka-harm ng ibang tao yung mga quotes nakakatawa lang,” she said.
These tweets eventually earned Ethel a book titled #Charotism: The Wit and Wisdom of Ethel Booba back in 2016.
“Kailangan ko yun angkinin dahil ginagaya lang naman niya ako kaya nakakatawa,” she said referring to tweets in the book.
In 2019, Ethel noticed a shift in the content of the account. She said the posts were turning too political already and it did not sit well with her.
As an attempt to halt the political posts, she asked her sisters to contact the owner of the fake account.
“Kaya ko pina-report din ito dahil below the belt yung mga tweet niya. Yung tweet niya na nagbabayad naman ako ng tax bakit kailangan mag ambag,” she mentioned, adding that those kinds of tweets made her look bad.
Ethel highlighted the tweets have become unnecessary especially while the country deals with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Naiinis na nga ako kasi bakit kailangan mag ingay ng ganon. Lalo na sa sitwasyon ngayon, may pandemic tayo na nangyayari sa buong mundo, we are in a desperate situation right now,” she said.
