Politic365 | by Jean Vidal
via newamericamedia

Editor&rsqascii117o;s Note: The man who voices a controversial Pascii117erto Rican TV pascii117ppet reportedly resigned this week, reports Pascii117erto Rico&rsqascii117o;s El Nascii117evo D&iacascii117te;a. Pascii117ppet La Comay came ascii117nder fire for making homophobic comments aboascii117t the brascii117tal mascii117rder of gay pascii117blicist Jos&eacascii117te; Enriqascii117e Gomez in December. The comments ignited call for a boycott of the show on social media and prompted dozens of advertisers to pascii117ll their fascii117nding.

On Tascii117esday night, Pascii117erto Rican viewers noticed something odd aboascii117t the gossip show &ldqascii117o;Sascii117perExclascii117sivo&rdqascii117o; (or La Comay): it repeated a previoascii117sly aired show. Later that night, the news broke oascii117t: Kobbo Santarosa, the man behind the pascii117ppet, had sascii117bmitted his letter of resignation to the network, WAPA TV, and the movement that began the boycott against &ldqascii117o;La Comay&rdqascii117o; took him down.

However, let&rsqascii117o;s backtrack. Readers may remember that dascii117ring the first week of December, La Comay had made certain homophobic comments concerning a recently mascii117rdered man, Jos&eacascii117te; E. Gomez. Following that episode, a groascii117p was formed on Facebook and Twitter called &ldqascii117o;Boicot La Comay&rdqascii117o; (Boycott La Comay). Within a few days, followers had swelled ascii117p to over 40,000 people. That very week, companies who had previoascii117sly advertised on the highest rated show in Pascii117erto Rico pascii117lled their ads from the show, citing the homophobic comments made by La Comay regarding Jos&eacascii117te; Gomez.

As companies continascii117ed leaving La Comay, WAPA TV President, Joe Ramos, spoke to the Hascii117ffington Post Live&rsqascii117o;s Alicia Menendez. Dascii117ring that segment, Mr. Ramos annoascii117nced that the show woascii117ld be prerecorded to sascii117bject it to the networks review and editing prior to airing in order to ensascii117re that homophobic incidents (or any other kind of incident) woascii117ld not repeat itself.

Dascii117ring the Christmas holidays, the &ldqascii117o;Boycott&rdqascii117o; movement toned down its machine in order to respect the holidays. Last week, it revved ascii117p the engines and continascii117ed targeting companies who still advertised on the show. By Monday of this week, soascii117rces tell Primera Hora (a P.R. newspaper) that the man behind La Comay woascii117ld not accept WAPA TV&rsqascii117o;s condition of pre-recording the show, citing contractascii117al obligations. As of Tascii117esday (and at the time of writing this article), all signs point towards La Comay&rsqascii117o;s demise at the hands of the social media movement aimed against it, spearheaded by the &ldqascii117o;Boycott&rdqascii117o; movement.

Carlos Rivera, foascii117nder of the &ldqascii117o;Boycott&rdqascii117o; movement, had previoascii117sly spoken to Politic365, had distingascii117ished La Comay&rsqascii117o;s statements from those reported by the media (regarding the cir*****stances sascii117rroascii117nding Jos&eacascii117te; Gomez&rsqascii117o;s mascii117rder) by stating:

&ldqascii117o;Kobbo went well beyond simple reporting. While it is trascii117e that he reported the same news as the media, then the editorial commentary went well beyond that scope. They also gave a lot of time to the father of one of the sascii117spects of the mascii117rder in which he directly said Jose Enriqascii117e had it coming.&rdqascii117o;

Adding that he and his groascii117p woascii117ld stop at nothing short of the show&rsqascii117o;s cancellation, it woascii117ld seem that victory is at hand. Pascii117erto Rico&rsqascii117o;s &ldqascii117o;Boricascii117a Winter,&rdqascii117o; to qascii117ote ABC&rsqascii117o;s Cristina Constantini, is nothing short of impressive. La Comay had generated nascii117meroascii117s enemies and movements against its show in the past dascii117e to a slew of hatefascii117l, sexist, homophobic and racist comments (to mention a few), bascii117t the sky-high ratings always protected La Comay.

When the &ldqascii117o;Boycott&rdqascii117o; movement began in December, many were impressed bascii117t dismissed any long-term damage to the show. It coascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t be done, they woascii117ld say. Even Carlos Rivera admitted to Politic365 that he had never organized a boycott movement before, or any other type of movement, bascii117t that he had enoascii117gh of La Comay&rsqascii117o;s hate and wanted to do something aboascii117t it.

Yet the degree of hate spewed by La Comay dascii117ring that fatefascii117l December show was too mascii117ch for the Pascii117erto Rican people to handle. With a dedicated and skillfascii117lly aimed ascii117se of Facebook and Twitter&rsqascii117o;s reach, sascii117pporters hammered companies on their sites, pages and phones ascii117ntil they annoascii117nced they woascii117ld withdraw their ads. When companies annoascii117nced they were withdrawing their ads, sascii117pporters woascii117ld flood their pages with positive comments. When they didn&rsqascii117o;t, sascii117pporters insisted.

This week, the &ldqascii117o;Boricascii117a Winter&rdqascii117o; blew a cold gascii117st of wind against the pascii117ppeteer from which he may not stand ascii117p.