“No hate there.”
The mother of transman singer Jake Zyrus responded to social media users who called her out for comparing Morissette Amon‘s rendition of a soulful song to that of her son, previously known as Charice Pempengco.
Raquel Pempengco said they were only “comparing the past and the present” renditions in response to comments calling her “bitter” and an “ampalaya,” especially since the Charice she was referring to in her supposed post is now identified as Jake.
“No hate and discrimination. [Their] opinions and comments are [based] on what they hear and watch… Anyway… Thanks to all my BASHERS at trending ako ngayon…” she wrote in a Facebook post on March 29.
Raquel also shared a video posted by another Facebook user which juxtaposed Morissette’s recent rendition of Whitney Houston‘s “I Have Nothing” with that of Jake’s.
“Hinde ako gumawa nito ha… share ko lang… See all the comments there… baka sabihin ako lang ang bitter at ‘di [maka] move on,” the matriarch wrote.
“‘I Have Nothing’ with David Foster, sino ang mas best para sa’yo! (MORISSETTE X CHARICE),” the caption of the video said.
Morissette was among those who graced music icon David Foster’s eight-show concert series held on March 21 to 26 at The Theater in Solaire.
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The “Asia’s Phoenix” reportedly performed some songs while the legendary hitmaker was in charge of the instrumentals.
Apart from “I Have Nothing,” she also sang “I Will Always Love You,” another Whitney hit.
Both of the songs were famously associated with Jake when he was still known as Charice.
In 2007, Jake performed “I Will Always Love You” on the American daytime “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” after he was invited by Ellen who was impressed with his YouTube performances.
A year later, the Filipino singer performed a “soul-stirring rendition” of “I Have Nothing” in a special episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” titled “World’s Smartest Kids.”
Oprah was so impressed that she called David to see what the hitmaker could do for Jake.
The Pinoy wonder then began to appear in concerts with the music icon, who acted as his mentor.
Jake’s musical career eventually flourished on the international scene.
Meanwhile, a showbiz-oriented Facebook page shared a screengrab of Raquel’s alleged post where she claimed that “nothing compares” to Jake’s signing after watching Morisette in David’s concert.
“‘Talagang wala pa ring ipapalit sa Alaska.’ [Alam] ko ang mga timbre ng boses na hinahanap mo DF… sinabi ko [naman] sa inyo noon pa… nag-iisa lang ang boses na ‘yan. Kahit kanino mo pa ipakanta ‘yang song mo… ‘Di [mabibigyan] ng [hustisya]. NO GOOSEBUMPS… NO STANDING OVATION… Nothing compares,” the matriarch reportedly wrote.
“Nag-iisang legendary ng Pilipinas si Charice Pempengco. At para sa kaalaman ng lahat. [Hindi] po si DF ang nagpasikat sa kanya kundi si OPRAH… [ni-reject] nga noon ni DF si Charice. Kaya ‘wag umasa na may isasama pa… masasaktan lang,” she added with laughing-with-tears emojis.
Some speculated that the “DF” she supposedly referred to was David Foster.
The post is no longer publicly available.
Jake has no comment about the matter so far.