Kris: Nag-sorry si Willie. End of story.

While the Internet is burning with entries bashing Willie Revillame for last Monday’s incident on Wowowee, ABS-CBN management is intriguingly quiet on the matter, not issuing any “official statement” in defense of the network’s biggest money-earner.

In that now-controversial Willie of Fortune portion, while Willie and his co-hosts were as usual dancing and having fun with contestants, a “news flash” on the funeral cortege of former Pres. Cory Aquino from La Salle Greenhills in San Juan City to the Manila Cathedral, was inserted, prompting Willie to say, “Ano ba ‘yan? Kung gusto n’yo ipakita ‘yan, ‘yan lang. Kung ako, ako lang. Nagsasaya kami dito sa show. Ayusin n’yo ‘yan!”

Even if televiewers found it “disrespectful,” I don’t think Willie meant to be so. He was actually right in protesting that “insert” except that he said it in a manner perceived to be, that’s it, “disrespectful.”

As he explained it the next day, Willie said that Wowowee was to be pre-empted by the funeral-cortege coverage and he didn’t object. Just when they had started taping the show for airing Tuesday, he was told that they would go “live” after all and that’s when the mix-up happened.

Willie said, “Di ba ang pangit tingnan na nagsasaya kami sa show pagkatapos isisingit ‘yung ‘news flash’ ng kabaong ni Tita Cory? I wouldn’t have minded if they made the ‘news flash’ occupy the whole screen at hindi muna kami ipinakita. Mas okey sana ang ganoon. Iginagalang ko hindi lang si Tita Cory kundi ang buong Aquino family.”

In the late newscast that same night, I saw Willie condoling with the Aquinos at the Manila Cathedral, wearing yellow. Tita Cory and her grandsons Joshua and James Jr. were known to be avid followers of Wowowee, that’s why Willie would greet them every now and then.

Now, who is to blame for that incident? A Funfare Update source knows “who” but he’d rather not name names. ABS-CBN management knows, I suppose, but it’s a puzzle why they are making Willie take all the heat without lifting a finger nor saying a word in his defense.

I texted Kris Aquino yesterday for her reaction and she texted back, “I spoke at length with Willie last night.”

Asked what they talked about, Kris replied, “Tito Ricky, may I just keep my conversation with Willie private? We are friends; he has always gone out of his way to be good to my kids, Josh especially. Nag-sorry siya to all of us. For me, end of story na.”

Incidentally, my piece on Kris being “100 percent sure to win if elections were held today and she ran for President” drew a deluge of adverse reactions from readers, all of them “shocked.” Oh my, I never expected that tongue-in-cheek item to be taken so seriously. The best and right reaction I got was this, from reader “cmdlreyes” (who perfectly got my point): “Yes, why not...and make Boy Abunda run for vice president.”

Let’s say “hehehehehe!” to that.

To quote Kris, “End of story na.”

Another Pinay is making good in UK

Did you know that Vanessa White, member of the all-female UK band Saturdays (here for a visit), is half-Filipino?

This was revealed by Vanessa in a recent phone interview with this section’s Assistant Editor Maridol Rañoa-Bismark.

London-born Vanessa, whose middle name is Villas, speaks Tagalog but with a British twang. She learned to dance the tinikling at age four and would dance it with Filipino groups in London. She eats adobo and grew up listening to Aiza Seguerra.

Vanessa’s mom is from Davao. Vanessa’s dad Paul met her mom while he was assigned in Davao and married her there. They settled in London where they raised Vanessa and the rest of the brood.

“I always go to Davao when I visit the Philippines,” Vanessa told Maridol. “I have 60 relatives there.”

Saturdays is performing tonight at 6 at SM Megamall Events Center. Vanessa and co-members Frankie, Mollie, Rochelle and Una are in Manila to promote their debut album, Chasing Lights, for MCA Music Inc.

She and her group are flying to Kuala Lumpur after Manila as part of the tour.

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