Mon Confiado calls out Facebook user for 'defamatory' grocery joke that's the 'Flying Lotus copypasta'
Mon Confiado called out a Facebook content creator for writing a now-deleted post about him supposedly shoplifting and being unpleasant in a grocery store—in an apparent "copypasta" as the latter had argued.
On Facebook, the actor shared a screenshot of the post of the page Ileiad writing a supposed anecdote about him along with his portrait. It talks about the poster supposedly meeting Confiado at a grocery store in Marikina, noting how "cool it was to meet him in person."
But the poster got taken aback because Confiado supposedly kept cutting him off, even "closing his hand shut" in his face.
He then supposedly saw Confiado "with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying," pertaining to the chocolate bar.
The girl at the counter, who's "very nice and professional about it," supposedly told Confiado, "Sir, you need to pay for those first," only for him to supposedly pretend to be tired and not hear her though eventually gave in.
When the girl scanned one of the bars multiple times, Confiado supposedly told her to scan each bar individually "to prevent any electrical infetterence," as he turned around and winked at the poster.
Though the girl did what Confiado told her and informed him of the price, the poster noted how Confiado "kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly."
Confiado commented on the post: "This is not funny! You are ruining my name. Kahit 'Copypasta' ito! Not everyone will understand this. This never happened. Not funny! Don't drag my name!"
He also shared his exchange with the user on Messenger, where the user apologized to him. Still, he questioned why the user hadn't deleted the post yet that time. He also asked the user to wait for "legal actions" because the user is supposedly easy to trace. The latter then asked if it was a threat.
'Gumawa ng story using my name & my photo'
Confiado, in his post's caption, said he didn't want to make a fuss out of it but had to, questioning whether it was right for Ileiad to do such a thing.
"Gumawa ng story using my name & my photo," he said, as he enumerated the supposed actions he did in the story.
Confiado also noted how he reprimanded the user, who defended the post as a "joke" and a "copypasta." He said, "[B]iglang nilagyan ng 'disclaimer' ang post nya pero huli na. Joke at my expense? Joke pero nakakasira ng tao? Bakit ka magjo joke sakin? Close ba tayo?"
He questioned why there are people who do such things in the name of likes despite hurting others. "Ang daming nag message sa akin at tinatanong kung totoo ba ito? Of course, Sabi ko hindi yan totoo. Never happened. At hindi ako ganung tao."
"At may pagka mayabang pa itong Ileiad na ito… nung sinabi ko idedemanda ko sya dahil ayaw pa nya tanggalin ang post nya. Threat daw ba ito? Grabe itong taong ito!" he continued.
The Ileiad page can no longer be accessed as of press time. It's unclear whether the user deactivated his page or it got deleted due to reports.
Several figures from the entertainment industry showed their support for Confiado in the comments section of his post.
Director Vince Tañada noted how Mon doesn't get mad easily and is patient enough. "Pero grabe itong libelous post at pwedeng pwede mo sya idemanda," he said. "Malayo sa pagkatao mo yung sinabi kaya may karapatan ka to file a case. Sana lang malaman ang real identity ng taong ito."
Actress Zara Lopez noted how the post about Confiado was wrong. "Grabe maling mali yan ginawa nya! D ko na sya masearch! You can make a content na d mo kylangan manira ng tao."
Singer-songwriter Shekinah Austria sympathized with Confiado. "Omg Mon… ang iba talaga.. no consideration. Sorry this happened to you," Austria said.
Radio personality China Roces-Santos, meanwhile, said Confiado won't do such a thing. "Grabe!! Alam kong di mo yun gagawin."
Cyberlibel
Confiado told the user on Messenger to wait for "legal actions."
Section 4 of the Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, lists libel as among content-related cybercrime offenses.
Philippine laws define libel as "malicious defamation, expressed either in writing, printing, or by signs or pictures, or the like, or public theatrical exhibitions, tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead or to impeach the honesty, virtue, or reputation, or publish the alleged or natural defects of one who is alive, and thereby expose him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule."
Libel has four elements that must be proven: (a) imputation of a discreditable act or condition to another; (b) publication of the imputation; (c) identity of the person defamed; and, (d) existence of malice.
According to Article 354 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), every defamatory imputation is presumed to be malicious—even if it be true, if no good intention and justifiable motive for making it is shown—except in the following cases:
- A private communication made by any person to another in the performance of any legal, moral or social duty; and
- A fair and true report, made in good faith, without any comments or remarks, of any judicial, legislative or other official proceedings which are not of confidential nature, or of any statement, report or speech delivered in said proceedings, or of any other act performed by public officers in the exercise of their functions.
Article 355 of the RPC states that libel carries a punishment of six months to six years (prisión correccional) and/or a fine ranging from P200 to P6,000 pesos. The offended party may also push for a civil suit.
What is copypasta?
Know Your Meme, a website dedicated to documenting internet phenomena, defines copypasta as "any block of text that gets copied and pasted over and over again, typically disseminated by individuals through online discussion forums and social networking sites."
Merriam-Webster Dictionary also has an entry for copypasta: "data (such as a block of text) that has been copied and spread widely online."
The post, as it turned out, is a derivative of the "I Saw Flying Lotus in a Grocery Store..." copypasta. (Flying Lotus is an American record producer.)
According to Know Your Meme, it is a "popular copypasta in which the poster tells a story of a famous person acting like a jerk in a grocery store. The subject of the copypasta is usually a very well-liked celebrity, thus pranking people into thinking someone they really like is actually rude."
It traced the origins of the entry to the imageboard website 4chan's messageboard "/mu/" dated June 29, 2012.
Know Your Meme noted that it spread on Sept. 1 of that year, and later on, Flying Lotus' name got replaced with celebrities like Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Gosling, Anthony Fantano, Kendrick Lamar, Masahiro Sakurai, and more.
On Reddit's "copypasta" subreddit, there is a 2014 entry on Gosling.
A top comment, meanwhile, used Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad fame, though replaced grocery with "unemployment office" and Milky Way with "fifteen job applications." It also added "bitch" on the initial, in reference to his Breaking Bad's character Jesse Pinkman uttering the profanity.
In the case of the Confiado entry, it stuck with the original one, only replacing Los Angeles with "Marikina" and Flying Lotus with "Mon Confiado" plus his description as "critically-acclaimed."
It's unknown whether other Filipino celebrities have such copypasta entries.
In a blog post, Know Your Meme noted that in using the copypasta in question, the idea is to "make a celebrity look unreasonably rude since those who aren't 'in the know' might think the copypasta is an actual story being recollected."
The copypasta often "appears under posts that praise or share appreciation of certain celebrities," Know Your Meme explained.