Israeli vlogger Nuseir Yassin popularly known as “Nas Daily” on Saturday issued a statement about his controversial podcast collaboration with Filipino-American vlogger Wil Dasovich where they talked about being political in social media.
Yassin invited Dasovich, also a model and former housemate of ABS-CBN’s “Pinoy Big Brother”, as his guest for the second episode of “Nas Talks” a podcast the former launched on Spotify, on July 15. The 45-minute podcast was titled, “Philippines: The Country of Social Media.”
‘Dormant news channel’
During their conversation, Yassin asked Dasovich about his insights on using his platform for politics, citing the recent ABS-CBN shutdown.
Yassin asked Dasovich where Filipinos will now get their information after the network giant’s closure.
Dasovich responded that consumers or viewers would now go to them, YouTube vloggers. However, for his mental health and his followers, the Filipino-American said has a “golden rule” wherein he tried to stay away from “divisive” politics to keep his content light.
He also incorrectly claimed that ABS-CBN did not lose its news section citing that ABS-CBN News Channel or ANC is still on air.
With the historic vote last July 10, ABS-CBN lost its news and current affairs services via radio, television and digital, which affected more than 11,000 thousand workers and subscribers across the country.
ANC is only available online and can only be accessed by subscribers of Sky Cable and cable operators outside Metro Manila.
Yassin then “vehemently” disagreed with his colleague and argued that “news” doesn’t have to be a bad thing, citing that they were involved in a project featuring Taiwan’s coronavirus response.
He then explained the importance of their platforms should a “major event” happen in the Philippines.
“If the Philippines right now declares war on China, and China declares war on the Philippines, you’re not gonna go and make a vlog saying, ‘Hi guys, let’s play video games.’ I don’t see it. Impossible,” Yassin said.
“So you’re essentially, I’m sorry to break it to you, but you’re a dormant news channel. You’re like an inactive news channel right now. But I’m willing to bet $10,000 right now that if, God forbid, some major event happens like a tsunami or a war or an earthquake or whatever, you are going to become a news channel,” he added.
Both content creators ended the podcast on a positive note.
‘Out of context’
When parts of the podcast were picked up and reported by local media, the importance of role of influencers or vloggers was highlighted.
Some Filipinos online then compared Yassin and Dasovich, both influencers who have millions of subscribers on YouTube.
In a statement on Facebook last Saturday, on July 18, Yassin was disappointed that some online articles took his remarks out of context.
He noted that his discussion with Dasovich was merely friendly and not serious, citing that the tone changed when his remarks were translated into text.
“Recently, I announced an episode of my new podcast “Nas Talks” with Wil Dasovich. It was a very fun episode. But sadly, it’s being taken out of context in some online articles, and it pains me to see that,” he said.
“Wil and I are good friends. The podcast was very friendly. But when you write it down in text or an article, it looks like it was all serious and grumpy. It wasn’t,” he added.
The foreign vlogger added that he doesn’t want people to use the remarks they said during the podcast to “further anyone’s political ambitions” or use them against Dasovich.
“We are both trying to figure out what to do with social media. It’s a whole new world for both of us. And we’re doing our best to make it a net positive to the world. Everyone has a different way of achieving their goals. And we have to respect that,” he said.
Yassin hoped that their fans and others would watch and understand the podcast and conduct their own research to make informed opinions online.
He also attached a link to the Spotify podcast on his post.
The names “Nas Daily” and “Wil Dasovich” trended on local Twitter over the weekend after Filipinos praised the former and criticized Dasovich for their differing opinions on the role of influencers in disseminating information and addressing national concerns.
Award-winning director Antoinette Jadaone was among those who compared the two on her account.
“Bakit si Nas Daily pa ang mas nakakaintindi?” she asked.
In another tweet, she shared a screenshot of an excerpt of an article bearing Yassin’s quote wherein Jadaone perceived could be applicable to other influencers.
Nas Daily to vlogger Wil Dasovich and essentially to all influencers “who don’t do politics” pic.twitter.com/DrmDxPH4xm
— Tonette, Tonette (@tonetjadaone) July 17, 2020
Others shared the spliced part of the podcast where Yassin pointed out the purpose of speaking out.
ok but he spilled the tea stan nas daily pic.twitter.com/VDYqtueYnG
— kneekie (@nikkiembestro) July 18, 2020
