Producer Benny Blanco is under hot waters for his allegedly insensitive and disrespectful reaction video.
The American producer is known for writing hit songs such as Ed Sheeran‘s “Castle on the Hill,” Justin Bieber‘s “Love Yourself,” and Katy Perry‘s “Teenage Dream.” He also produced BTS‘s collaboration song with Snoop Dogg, “Bad Decisions.”
Early this month, Benny Blanco posted a TikTok video of himself trying food from Jollibee, the leading fast food chain in the Philippines. He tried the local versions of fried chicken and spaghetti, the latter of which has a uniquely sweet taste.
He was seen covering his nose as soon as he opened the pack of spaghetti. He claimed that it “smells like f*cking vomit.”
He then spit out the mouthful of spaghetti straight back into the container it came from after a single bite.
Filipinos expressed their anger at his words and actions. They stated that it was disrespectful and ignorant of him to spit out the pasta noodles, noting that it was both a waste of “perfectly good food” and that it was an insult to the local community.
It’s so disrespectful. It’s ok if the food is not to your taste but spitting out perfectly good food and something that’s so close to Filipino ppl’s heart. What a rude ass man Benny Blanco pic.twitter.com/Wp4npTwEcu
— prince kim’s fan || ʟᴀʏᴏ(ꪜ)ᴇʀ (@WinterTaeta) March 2, 2024
Benny Blanco should eat Selena’s sh*t. Im not defending Jollibee but the way this d*ckhead made fun of eating chicken and spitting spaghetti back is just disgusting. White people are really stupid. pic.twitter.com/lKucGLO69K
— AltGMA🌈 (@KafosoMo) March 3, 2024
Though it wasn’t a problem that the food did not match his preferences, his clear disgust towards the brand—and thus Filipino food in general—showed a distinct lack of manners.
Idc if Benny Blanco doesn’t like Jollibee. Not everyone does.
BUT the fact that he has to show how disgusted he is verbally and to even spit the food in a video seen worldwide… This guy has no manners, that’s it.
Selena should wake up that she’s dating a 🚩🚩🚩 again 😪🙃 pic.twitter.com/J8y6B8bCTj— janielevs (@janielevs) March 3, 2024
They further noted that he was being hypocritical with his opening statement claiming to have grown up eating Filipino food yet acting like it was the first time he tasted Filipino-style spaghetti.
benny blanco saying that he grew up eating filipino food THEN full on disrespecting jollibee and its filipino food ESPECIALLY filipino spaghetti pic.twitter.com/3WHvLeb1JL
— potato chip (@johnnysfatblunt) February 29, 2024
Most of all, they found offense in his comments and actions given the significance of Jollibee to the local culture. Filipina TikToker Reen (@r33nberger) pointed out that the spaghetti from this fast food chain is not just a style of pasta but a symbolism of something bigger: the Filipino resilience.
As much as we love watching foreigners try Jollibee for the first time…Jollibee is not catered to you. Our version of spaghetti is deeply rooted in the fact that poverty is high in the Philippines. So a lot of Filipinos do with whatever they have available. That spaghetti is sweet because Filipinos created the sauce out of a ketchup bottle because it’s cheaper than fresh tomatoes. That spaghetti has hotdogs in it because processed food is relatively cheaper than actual meat. That spaghetti symbolizes a very distinct Filipino trait that we will rise out of a struggle and we can and will make something out of nothing.
— Reen
@r33nberger Had to reupload but message stays the same, PUT SOME RESPEK ON MY BOY JOLLIBEE’S NAME #filipinos #jollibee
♬ original sound – REEN | fitness & everything
Thus, while he was entitled to his own opinion, his delivery of it was offensive to many.
You are not entitled to like Jollibee but there is a way to express that without being distasteful.
— Reen
