Samsung may have caved in and removed the video, but Vyla Virus stands tall and proud of his identity.
In the wake of Samsung’s removal of an advertisement featuring a drag queen and his Muslim mother, the drag performer has spoken up on Instagram saying that they are okay.
Samsung Removed Advertisement Deemed By Netizens To Be “Offensive” and “Insensitive’”
Samsung’s latest advertisement featuring a Muslim mother supporting her drag queen son drew flak from some Singaporeans and was ultimately removed from all official platforms.
“Dear mother, not many will have such an understanding and open-minded mum like you, and my heart can’t thank you enough. You are just unbothered having people looking or judging you differently, having a son that does drag,” Vyla said in the video.
He also added that the “most precious and proudest moment” for him was when his mother watched him perform as Vyla.
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Needless to say, this advertisement was received poorly by a very vocal bunch of Singaporeans. Some of them felt that this advertisement was trying to “normalise and push lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) ideology” into a Muslim community that is mostly conservative.
On the other end of the spectrum, many netizens also expressed support for the family in the video. They labelled it a “sincere portrayal of familial love and acceptance”.
Advocates for the LGBTQ community like Pink Dot have also urged the Infocomm Media and Development Authority (IMDA) to “remove the ban on the positive portrayal of LGBTQ characters”.
These stories of love and support are “essential to building bridges” between the LGBTQ community and society, said Pink Dot.
The drag queen in the video, known as Vyla Virus, has since spoken up about this controversy on his Instagram.
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Vyla Virus filmed a video out of costume addressing the controversy and uploaded it onto his Instagram page yesterday (21 January).
He started off by saying that he and his mother are doing well. He also expressed his thanks to everyone who reached out to check on their wellbeing.
Vyla further stated that “it’s all about mother’s love in the video. Nothing else was mentioned.”
This could possibly be alluding to how netizens viewed the video as trying to “push LGBTQ ideology” when nothing about LGBTQ identity was said in the video at all.
Following Vyla’s post, there was an outpour of positive messages in the comments encouraging and applauding him for his bravery.
Pink Dot also commented: “Thank you so much for what you and mum do! It’s so sad to see a mother and child’s love censored like that, when love is.. just love. Sending love ❤️”
View this post on Instagram
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Featured Image: Instagram (@vylavirus, @pinkdotsg)