"We genuinely mean no offense."
These are the words from DJ Loonyo's camp after receiving backlash upon the airing of his life story in an episode of "Magpakailanman" over the weekend.
DJ Loonyo was portrayed by Jak Roberto in the episode, which talked about the many facets of his life, including his relationship with a certain Aika Flores.
Apparently, Aika released her own "version" of the story, claiming what aired was "twisted."
In response, DJ Loonyo admitted he requested to omit sensitive parts of his life, most specifically about his son who died in 2017.
He explained, “We, as a management and team, signed a contract allowing the program to enhance certain aspects of his life, because it is still, in fact, for a dramatic TV show retelling.
“We worked together with the writing staff to limit the references to the past love story and asked to change the name references or as much as possible, edit out parts that we're not as true to life.
“With all due respect to the respectable program and its host, Ms. Mel Tiangco, the retelling was as respectfully told as possible and shed a light on both the positive and negative aspects of his life.”
The team expressed apology to parties who were offended.
The statement read, “Please bear in mind that as much as freedom of speech is a right given to all, it does not mean we can use our voice or our words to cut wounds into others especially if we do not know the whole story.
“When our team agreed to give the show rights to air and retell the story of his life, it was not done with malice or selfish intent but to ultimately show the viewers that no matter how bad things may go in your life, there will always be a reason to keep fighting and striving.
“And hopefully, God will give you His grace in the end.”
DJ Loonyo or Rhemuel Lunio in real life is a dancer and choreographer who became popular on the video-sharing platform TikTok during the quarantine.