'Banana Nite' director says Xian should not be blamed on Bea Binene joke

Banana Nite director Bobot Mortiz said that what happened on their live Chinese New Year episode last week was not Xian Lim's fault.


The Bride For Rent actor drew flak from netizens for his reaction when he saw a Kim Chiu impersonator on the stage while he was singing at Plaza Sta. Cruz Church in Binondo as the show's guest.

"Ano'ng ginagawa ni Bea Binene dito?" he asked, unaware of the "surprise" that the program had set-up for him.

A lot of those who have seen the live episode interpreted his reaction as being insensitive.

Lim took to Twitter a few hours after the incident to say: "It was not my intention,and I take full responsibility for my actions."

He followed it up with an apology, saying: "I deeply apologize if I caused negative feelings while singing on stage during Chinese New Year's Eve countdown..."

Mortiz, during a presscon on Thursday at the ABS-CBN's Dolphy Theater, said that he is partly to blamed for what happened.

"Hindi naman kasalanan talaga ni Xian 'yung nangyari," the director said. "May pagkukulang din naman ako. Ang gusto namin mangyari, masorpresa siya. So, parang miscommunication yung nangyari."

Meanwhile, in a separate presscon, Chiu confessed that Lim is really sad about the whole thing.

"Sobra siyang malungkot, hindi mo siya makausap, as in hindi siya kumakain," Kim said, as quoted by pep.ph. "Hindi siya nagpagupit ng hair. Sabi ko, 'Magpagupit ka na, ang haba-haba na ng hair mo.' Ayaw niya, sobra siyang na-down, as in ang daming bashers, sa Instagram. Sabi ko, 'Baligtarin mo sila, mag-post ka ng masasaya na mga ganyan.' Ayaw niya, sobra siyang sad."

She also added that she takes him out to eat and tries to be funny around him but he still feels down.

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