Rajo Laurel has come out to explain comments he made against "Drag Race Philippines" contestants Eva Le Queen.
Taking to social media, he wrote, "It’s all because of LOVE! Not Meant to be mean but only to be Meaningful. Remember that…"
He reiterated that as show judge "I only want the BEST from our queens the best from the Philippines!"
Rajo also made time to reply to some disappointed supporters.
"I enjoyed the way you judge on Project Runway, Sir and the talk you gave at FEU a few years back. The way you judge just feels different this time. As a fan, I am disappointed," one wrote.
Rajo told the latter: "My apologies."
Another said: "I respect you as a fashion designer but as a judge nope because your abrupt judging tonight was so out of place. As a fan of #DragRace for years, the way you judge is different because most of the time, you are all mean. I like you guys, don't get me wrong but meh."
Rajo related: "Respect begets respect. (person with folded hands emoji)."
At the same time, Rajo also reposted some positive comments.
A netizen said: "Brutal fact. Tough love. Harsh reality. IMO, the critiques given by one and only @rajolaurel are just fair. Sometimes we need those to wake us up. Thats genuine love like that of our parents."
"I don’t see anything wrong with that. @rajolaurel is (heart emoji)," an online user maintained.
Note that a few minutes after the airing of the said episode, Rajo released a disclaimer, writing: "This is the episode where my emotions came over me. Pasensya na Po. I just love our queens & @dragraceph hence the passion & intensity."
Later, he also expressed support and love to Eva Le Queen.
"I love you #evalaqueen ALAM MO YAN!!! @dragraceph #shotna."
Eva Le Queen, on the other hand, also released her own statement about the issue online.
It read:
"I couldn't sleep and had been sobbing the whole morning. It's been an avalanche of emotions. But thank you all for the kind and encouraging words of love and support. I have read each and everyone of them. All the overflowing love surely made up for some of the words that were said last night.
"Perhaps, the hardest part of it all was to see myself on screen and feel na maawa ka sa sarili mo. Ngl, I was bleeding inside enduring the critiques and lipsyncing against one of my closest friends. Pero we all signed up for this and that's the way it is.
"What I want to say is, words have power. Imagine a piece of your soul die and give up on what makes you come alive. It only takes seconds to utter words that damage a person for a lifetime.
"To Sir Rajo, thank you for reaching out and patching things up. In better days, let's have that nice dinner and drinks!
"To my good sis, Vinas Deluxe, you are the best lipsyncer in the country and your talent is undeniable. We did amazing! You're a f**kin superstar. I love you!
"And to all my friends and fans, kapit lang mga tampalp*ke.
"Never felt this magnitude of love and support before and it feels amazing! Every time i doubt myself, i read through all your messages and I'm convinced I must have done something right. You all are my inspiration.
"May we all always choose kindness everyday. Have a good day everyone!"
Note that Rajo had described Eva Le Queen's second runway look, "Divi divas," an "atrocity."
He added, "That's ugly. And I'm being fierce because I know you can do better. And I'm being hard because I have seen what you can do. And this is trash."
His criticism made noise on social media. In fact, "RuPaul's Drag Race's" Kandy Muse and Jasmine Kennedie even reposted a video of the same on their respective Twitter accounts.
The American drag queen, queer artist, and performer Kandy wrote: "I would have thrown a shoe at the judges, now critique that (cat face with tears of joy emoji)."
The Filipino Fashion designer, on the other hand, replied: "SUBUKAN MO!!!!!"
But Kandy answered with a meme.
Meanwhile, American drag performer Jasmine said: "The fact that her outfit is a lot better than anything that came out of sewing challenges this year…. And she still got read for filth (face with tears of joy emoji)."