Manila on Tuesday “strongly protested” an American television drama which shows a fictional Philippine president making a sexual advance on the US secretary of state.
In the trailer for the latest edition of “Madam Secretary”, the lead character punches “the Philippines’ unconventional new president” in the face and gives him a bloody nose in reaction to his unwanted pass.
“I clobbered a world leader instead of saving a major regional agreement,” the secretary of state says.
The Philippine embassy in Washington said in a statement it had written to the producers of the show, the CBS network, to urgently request it “take the necessary corrective actions”.
“This highly negative portrayal of our Head of State not only casts doubt on the respectability of the Office of the Philippine President but also denigrates (the) way our nation navigates foreign affairs,” the statement said.
While the description for the trailer used a fictional name for the Philippine president, the embassy said the show mirrored current events.
The real Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has previously caused controversy with comments seen as sexist and offensive.
His spokesman Ernesto Abella also criticized the show on Tuesday while making an apparent reference to womanizing American leaders.
“I think they are projecting something they would really like to say about their own situation. I think they should use a fictional US president,” Abella told reporters.
“It’s their business. It’s their craft. You cannot deny them their craft, their taste perhaps.”
(Agence France Presse)
