‘Respect Local Artists’ trends on Twitter, sparks debates about song royalties

By Patricia Taculao

TWITTER netizens are abuzz following an episode of It’s Showtime where hosts Vice Ganda and Anne Curtis discussed the issue concerning song royalties of Pinoy pop group SB19 during the show.

It began when Vice asked the contestants what song they wanted to dance to, to which they replied with “Gento” by SB19. The comedian-host then dissuaded by saying it was no longer available since “Naningil na sila,” as Vice stated, before encouraging the participants to use his song, “Rampa,” instead.

Anne replied, “Talaga? May ganon pala? Hindi ba good promo ‘yun for the industry? Sayang.”

The episode caused a divide between SB19 and It’s Showtime fans, with the latter calling the P-pop group greedy. On the other hand, the Twitter trend came about after many individuals called out Vice and