DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Controversial Facebook vlogger Crist Briand has apologized to the Muslim community in a video statement for his post about “pork nga halal” which he admitted has offended he religious beliefs of the Muslims.
In a video statement flanked by members of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) – Davao who have summoned him for a dialogue, Crist Briand apologized for his post that he admitted was inappropriate.
“I sincerely apologize for the post I made, which offended members of the Muslim community. I understand that my words and actions were inappropriate and caused pain. I take full responsibility,” he said, reading from a statement.
https://www.facebook.com/NCMFDavao/videos/1141979831147213
Briand shared the apology video on his account and deleted the controversial post.
The vlogger has also agreed with NCMF that he will suspend his social media accounts for one month as part of a settlement, and will repost his apology weekly for that duration. He has also agreed to undergo psychiatric consultations and participate in community service, immersion and peace advocacy activities.
The NCMF explained that under Islamic teaching, pork and its derivatives are universally regarded as haram (forbidden), which is the opposite of halal which means food prepared under Islamic customs.
Above it all, he pledged to avoid doing similar antics in his future vlogs and abide with the city council’s campaign for local Facebook content creators to act responsibly on their content that espouse better values of Dabawenyos.
Briand, whose full name is Crist Briand Oncada, has 995,000 followers, and has gained both popularity and controversy for his posts, videos and jokes that were flagged by netizens as offensive and insensitive.(davaotoday.com)
