Veteran comedy writer Chito Francisco has publicly apologized to fellow comedian Alex Calleja after wrongly accusing him of stealing a “car wash” joke.
The accusation came shortly after Alex’s Netflix show “Tamang Panahon” began streaming earlier this week when Chito posted on Facebook, claiming that a “Netflix special” of a “Pinoy stand-up comedian” used his original joke.
Francisco further presented a separate post dated September 24, 2019, as proof of his claim that the said joke was originally his. The post contained the joke: “Magpapa-carwash ako. E dahil malapit lang ang carwash, nilakad ko na lang. ‘Di na ko nagdala ng sasakyan.”
He later reshared the joke on September 24, 2023, with the caption: “Luma na ‘to, puwede ‘nyo nang gamitin. My bad.”
Alex later responded by providing a thread of receipts on his Facebook page, proving he had written the joke “as early as 2011”.
In a statement on Saturday, Francisco expressed deep regret for his allegations, which he acknowledged had unfairly damaged Calleja’s reputation.
He admitted that Calleja had presented proof showing he had written the joke earlier and acknowledged that his baseless allegations had led to social media backlash against the comedian.
“I would like to publicly apologize to ALEX CALLEJA, my fellow writer, for accusing him of stealing the car wash joke, when in fact, as he has presented proof and receipts, Alex wrote it ahead, which substantiated that he wrote the joke earlier than mine,” Chito stated.
“I deeply regret what I have done to Alex, considering that my comments created and caused due and undue harm against him. I know Alex as a gentle soul, and by making those statements, it was wrong of me to put him in a bad light with false and baseless allegations,” Francisco said, adding that he was “careless” and “negligent” in making the accusations.
“As a result of my statements, Alex suffered so much backlash and damage, which include online bashing, and having the public attack his credibility, which is extremely damaging to his career.”
Chito also urged netizens and bloggers who had shared or reposted his statements to take them down, expressing his remorse and commitment to making amends.
“With this, I am calling on other bloggers and netizens who commented, shared, and reposted my false statements about Alex to take them down and permanently delete them. What I said was wrong, and I would like to minimize the extent of the damage already suffered by Alex caused by my negligence to the best that I can.”
“I hope that this public statement will peacefully end the issue and settle the matter between me and Alex once and for all,” his statement concluded.
Meanwhile, Alex announced on his official Facebook page that he has acknowledged Chito’s public apology and urged the public to move on from the issue.
