Ileiad, real name Jeff Jacinto, tells Rappler, ‘Not foreseeing the repercussions, I wish I could have just taken it down the moment I saw him [Confiado] in the comments’
MANILA, Philippines – Content creator Ileiad, real name Jeff Jacinto, is appealing to actor Mon Confiado to withdraw the cyber libel complaint that he has filed against him.
Jacinto said in an email to Rappler, Wednesday, August 14, that he pleaded with Confiado via an online message.
He said that he sent Confiado an apology, requested him to “discourage the people harassing me,” and claimed he has been on the receiving end of harassment, death threats, and doxing.
Confiado filed a cyber libel complaint against Jacinto with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday, August 12, over a “copypasta” post made by the content creator that put the actor in a grocery scenario where he was made to look sensationally rude. A copypasta is a block of text that spreads like a meme, and is copy-pasted to provoke a reaction or for humorous effect.
The content creator reached out to Rappler in a bid to explain his side, saying he was forced to deactivate his social media accounts following the incident.
Jacinto explained that the page Ileiad’s content involves “memes and humorous comments about pop culture” or those being talked about under the “/tv/” forum on the 4chan imageboard, mostly catering to an “international following.” The page, he described as “satire,” was launched in January 2018.
The Confiado post, he said, was his attempt to “apply 4chan humor to Filipino pop culture” when he thought of “catering to my Filipino followers.”
The Confiado post was a derivative of a copypasta originally featuring American producer Flying Lotus, “in which the poster tells a story of a famous person acting like a jerk in a grocery store,” as explained in the meme database Know Your Meme.
“The subject of the copypasta is usually a very well-liked celebrity, thus pranking people into thinking someone they really like is actually rude,” the site said.
Confiado said in a post that such a joke could be damaging, and that not many people are likely to get it. “Ang problema…kahit ito ay isang joke o ‘meme’ lamang, hindi pamilyar ang lahat ng tao dito at ito ay ipinost mo sa ‘Facebook.’ At alam mo naman ang mga tao ay napakadaling maniwala sa mga ganyang posts.”
(The problem is even if this is just a joke or a meme, not everyone is familiar with it. And you posted it on Facebook. You know how fast people believe in such posts.)
‘Big mistake’
Before filing the complaint, Confiado had asked Jacinto to take down the post. But Ileiad didn’t take down the post immediately, and merely added a “disclaimer” note, leading the actor to pursue legal action.
Jacinto told Rappler, “He messaged me, asking me to take it down, but to my mistake, I didn’t and instead explained that it was a copypasta, and that it wasn’t my intention to ruin him.” He added a disclaimer on the post before eventually taking it down.
Confiado, triggered by what he viewed as the content creator’s “sarcastic,” insincere, and unapologetic behavior, filed the complaint against Jacinto.
Jacinto told Rappler “it was a big mistake” to not have taken down the post upon Confiado’s request. The content creator, who is in his 20s, admitted that, looking back, his earlier apologies had not been sincere enough, and “was just me trying to save face.”
“After some introspection, it sounded arrogant and condescending,” he said.
Jacinto said that he had not expected the incident to escalate this far, and acknowledged that while such meme content may be understood within certain circles or certain platforms like 4chan, it could be “damaging if it winds up in a different side of Facebook.”
“Not foreseeing the repercussions, I wish I could have just taken it down the moment I saw him [Confiado] in the comments,” Jacinto said.
Jacinto also said he has never personally met Confiado. – Rappler.com