Emmanuelle Atienza, daughter of TV personality Kim Atienza, recently addressed netizens’ reactions to her viral TikTok video of her and her friends “guessing” their bill at a fine dining restaurant.
The now-deleted video, which showed her dining with friends including Miss World Philippines 2024 Krishnah Gravidez, reportedly racked up a bill of over P100,000, quickly went viral on social media and drew mixed reactions from netizens.
There were netizens who criticized the extravagant spending, especially in the context of the financial struggles faced by many Filipinos.
“They’re TOO casual about spending basically two semesters worth of tuition fee in a private institution just for one frickin meal… I could never fathom how rich people live like this,” a netizen reacted to the video.
“Of course people are going to react to obscene wealth. There’s a reason the 1% wants to remain unseen and often cosplay our lives, cause when people realize they will work for 60 years and will never, ever have the ability to splurge 100k for a single meal, they will revolt, wrote another.
As the video gained traction, Emmanuelle took to TikTok to clarify the situation, explaining that the viral clip was meant as a joke.
“I found it so stupid that I even have to address this but it gotten to the point where I feel like I need to,” she began, before explaining why they created the video in the first place.
“I thought it was obvious because we were laughing and the bill was an outrageously high number, but apparently, it’s believable that I can pay that much for a dinner,” she added.
@emmanatienza #stitch with @emmanuelle atienza ♬ Girls – The Dare
She explained that the hefty dinner bill was not paid by them but was instead covered by her friend’s agency in celebration of a birthday.
“So I wanna clarify again it was a joke, we didn’t pay that, it was my friend’s birthday and her agency treated us to a dinner,” explained Atienza, aiming to correct the misinformation that led to a wave of negative comments.
She went on to defend her “choice” and “freedom” to spend the money that they “earned”.
Atienza further called out an online article from Republic Asia about her video receiving flak and highlighted the news site’s last statement about checking one’s privilege. The article, however, has already been removed from their sites as of writing.
“I’ve been so honest about the privileges I’ve been given and the privilege that I have in my life. […] I’m not ignorant nor do I deny the privilege I’ve been given and I never have been,” she stressed.
Emmanuelle also acknowledged her position as a “nepo baby” — a term used to describe the children of famous personalities who benefit from their family’s status.
She expressed frustration over the backlash, saying that as a “teenage girl”, she is not “responsible for the wealth disparity” in the country.
“I find it so stupid that people are picking and choosing what to be activists for. If you actually have the issue on wealth disparity, if you actually had an issue with impoverished people, there are ways to help that are not attacking a teenage girl,” Emmanuelle said.
Furthermore, Atienza also mentioned other celebrities including award-winning Pinay actress Nadine Lustre, K-pop supergroup BTS, and Hollywood pop stars Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and Olivia Rodrigo, highlighting their incomparable wealth over her own.
“If you’re gonna hate on me for being rich you need to do the same for everyone because […] your favorite celebrities not just in the Philippines but worldwide […] make more, have more, and spend more than I have ever have,” she stressed.
Her clarification, however, fueled further debate on social media. While some netizens praised her for being candid and acknowledging her privilege, others remained critical, finding her statements insensitive in light of the economic struggles faced by many Filipinos.
Meanwhile, her sister, Eliana Atienza, was previously banned from her campus at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and kicked out of her student dorm last May for “participating in an encampment that had taken up a campus green to protest Israel and its war against Hamas”.
