It’s Showtime host and Tawag ng Tanghalan judge Billy Crawford has issued an apology today for the remarks that he made yesterday to one TNT contender from Mindanao.

While judging for today’s Tawag ng Tanghalan, Billy was given a chance to apologize, not just only to the contestant, but to all those from Mindanao who took offense at what he said yesterday.

According to his apology, he didn’t mean to disrespect anyone from Mindanao.

“Gusto ko pong manghingi ng konting oras para manghingi ng paumanhin, or I would like to apologize, ahh, una sa lahat, ung contestant kahapon na taga-Mindanao. Ahh medyo, it wasn’t my intention to disrespect anybody from Mindanao. Sa lahat ng mga taga-Mindanao, ako po ay nanghihingi ng paumanhin. Pasensya na po kayo. Ahm, hindi lang tama ang pagkasabi ko. At ahh, pero hindi pa rin po yun rason kung bakit may excuse pa po ako. Wala po akong excuse. Nasabi ko po kung anong nasabi ko kahapon. And I would just like to apologize for everyone in Mindanao. I’m very very sorry.”

The apology was made after Billy was heavily criticized online for his comment yesterday about the diction of Lorilae Mañego, a Tawag ng Tanghalan contestant from Davao.

Lorilae performed the song ‘What’s Up?’ and here’s the comment that she got from hurado Billy, who offended many Mindanaons when he generalized them for having problems with diction.

“Ang astig kase ng kantang ‘to ng 4 Non Blondes. Katulad ni Bela (Padilla), nung kabataan ko rin ay kinakanta ko to. At napansin ko dito sa kantang to, especially sa ating mga Pinoy, nahihirapan tayo sa diction. Yung diction ang pinakamahirap. Yung diction talaga, hindi naman sya sobrang importante dito sa kumpetisyon, kasi alam namin na taga-Mindanao kayo, so, talagang mahihirapan ka sa diction. Pero, konting linis na lang doon, kase gusto namin, actually sa akin, gusto ko ung pag-gagaralgal ng boses mo. Kakaiba. Ung pwersa, halatang binigay mo ung lahat ng kakayahan mo dito sa kantang ‘What’s Up?’. Bigay-todo ka. Napakaganda. May konting-konting mga flats lang tayo sa dulo. Pero medyo pagka-rock kase dating nung pagkakanta mo, kaya
forgiveable naman sya. In all, maganda naman performance mo sa araw na ‘to, at sana matupad lahat ng pangarap mo. Congrats, and good luck!