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Watch your words, Señor.
“A popular talk show host in a Spanish language network in the U.S. was allegedly fired for bashing a photo of Eat Bulaga co-host Paolo Ballesteros impersonating U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama,” reports Edwin P. Sallan on InterAksyon.com.
The report noted: “In several international reports on the incident, Venezuela-born Rodner Figueroa, host of the daytime entertainment talk show El Gordo y La Flaca for the Univision network, commented on the show Wednesday, March 11, that a photo collage of Ballesteros’ make-up transformation into Mrs. Obama ‘looked like she’s from the cast of Planet of the Apes.'”
The report noted that “at the time Figueroa made the controversial comment, the show was doing a critique of the celebrity impersonations of Ballesteros.”
The report explained that “Univision immediately fired Figueroa and said in a statement the following day,” saying in a statement that his comments about Obama “were completely reprehensible and in no way reflect the values or opinions of Univision.”
Figueroa later released an apology, by way of an open letter that was originally written in Spanish. He said that his commentary was not directed at the First Lady but at Ballesteros’s characterization which. he said, “left a lot to be desired.”
Photos: Univision (Figueroa) and Paolo Ballesteros
