‘This is blasphemy’: Ejercito slams viral ‘Ama Namin’ drag performance

Sen. Joseph Victor ”JV” Ejercito. FILE PHOTO / Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — Senator JV Ejercito slammed the viral video of drag queen Pura Luka Vega singing along to a remix of “Ama Namin,” otherwise known as The Lord’s Prayer.

The video, which was posted by Vega herself, shows the drag queen dressed up as the Black Nazarene while singing along to a remix of The Lord’s Prayer in a bar. As of writing, the footage has already garnered more than 14 million views.

Reacting to this post, Ejercito, in a tweet, on Wednesday labelled the act as blasphemous.

This is blasphemy.

This disrespects my faith.

This went overboard. https://t.co/Y9XELNOtFk

— JV Ejercito (@jvejercito) July 12, 2023

“This is blasphemy. This disrespects my faith. This went overboard,” he said.

A quick Twitter search also shows that the opinion of internet users regarding the performance is divided. Twitter user @fonzydgreat said “[Vega] is not worthy of respect if she disrespect[s] other people’s beliefs.”

https://twitter.com/fonzydgreat_/status/1678762596550447104?s=46

Another surfer — @gg41treasures — pointed out that “Prayer is not entertainment. The mass is not a costume party. The church is not a club.”

https://twitter.com/gg41treasures/status/1678673862538706944?s=46

While others are offended, some find the performance amusing and fun.

Quoting Vega’s tweet, social media user, @heymrstan, said the controversy that the footage brought proved that “Vega’s art is effective,” adding that it is “an art that sparks conversations, an art that is not afraid, an art that makes [people] think and reflect what [they] believe in.”

It just means that Ate Luka’s art is indeed effective.

An art that sparks conversations, an art that is not afraid, an art that makes us think and reflect what we believe in ourselves. https://t.co/qfNQAqiU2n

— mrs tan// (@heymrstan) July 12, 2023

This was backed by twitter user @_nickdeocampo who stated that “art is meant to comfort the disturb[ed] and disturb the comfortable.”

art is meant to comfort the disturb and disturb the comfortable

check ur privilege po, dami dami issues on hate crimes targeted towards the member of the community, ngayon kayo iiyak, pls pls pls kaya Im really faith>religion https://t.co/xpj9lqsmdc

— Nick (@_nickdeocampo) July 11, 2023

Vega, in a Twitter space on Tuesday, clarified that she was not trying to demean religion through her performance.

“My intention was never really to mock per se. In my mind, queerness has always been there, I feel like it’s my way of actually praising God. I don’t know, I mean, I was very careful when I did that because I don’t want it to come across as something that’s very offensive, but then again it’s still taken as something that’s very offensive. Was it offensive because I am a queer individual or was it [due to] other factors?,” she said.

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JPV