This study focuses on the sentiment analysis of social media users following the “Ama Namin” (Our Father) incident involving the drag artist Pura Luka Vega. Capstone-Intel Corporation conducted an online backtracking of the issue on June 21 to July 21, 2023 to determine the sentiments of audiences regarding the content, which sparked conversation in the Catholic-majority country.
Capstone-Intel is a high-impact research company that uses innovative research technologies, tools, and methods to convert data and information to breakthrough insights and actionable intelligence outputs. It is committed to helping its clients solve problems, find solutions, grow markets and constituencies, build reputations, navigate risks, manage crises, and be the country’s leading private research and intelligence agency.
Background of the issue
Earlier in July 2023, a video of Amadeus Fernando Pagente, a queer artist popularly known as “Pura Luka Vega” in the drag industry, made rounds on social media after his drag performance became viral. The video, which has become a hot topic across various social media platforms, had received flak over what seemed to be “disrespectful” and blasphemous content of the drag artist after he used “Ama Namin” as the anthem of his performance.
During the performance, attendees were seen singing along to Pura’s “Ama Namin” remix. Pura, who happened to be wearing a Jesus-like costume and cosmetics, hyped the drag act even more as audiences screamed in joy.
Following the incident, several groups and individuals expressed their concerns, both positive and negative, about Pura’s performance. At the same time, lawmakers, particularly Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, stated that they might face criminal charges for the performance.
Pura later apologized to anyone offended by the performance but emphasized that this would not mark the end of their artistic and faith expression.
As a result of unfavorable circumstances, Vice Mayor Michael Galang of Floridablanca recently disseminated a resolution from the Office of the Sangguniang Bayan that denounces the “sacrilegious deeds” of a drag queen directed towards the Christian religion. In light of this, Pura, a municipality within the province of Pampanga, was deemed “persona non-grata.” Such a decision was also reached by the governing body of General Santos City.
Methodology
Capstone-Intel utilized all publicly available data across all social media platforms from June 21 to July 21, news, and websites in order to gather relevant information involving the subject matter. The report suggests that Pura Luka Vega’s content is distributed throughout several social media channels. The most significant market share currently belongs to Facebook at 29.3 percent, followed by videos at 23.8 percent, and news content at 19.7 percent. Twitter and TikTok each provide a large portion, specifically 17.8 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, a lesser fraction of the content was shared on blogs (2.0 percent), news (19.7 percent), and videos (23.8 percent).
Reaction analysis
On the other hand, Capstone-Intel also sought the users’ reaction towards the issue through reaction analysis. The result showed that 36.9 percent or roughly 217,986 users have expressed their disapproval or vexation to the “Ama Namin” drag performance. This only shows that the Catholic-majority nation remains guarded and sensitive about their faith – which negated the drag artist’s contemporary expression of faith.
At the same time, about 149,382 or 25.3 percent of the total reactions were neutral about the issue while 143,363 or 24.2 percent of the reactions were positive.
Sentiment Analysis
A sentiment data report from Capstone-Intel showed that Pura’s “Ama Namin” drag performance received significant scrutiny online. Of the data gathered across all social media platforms, 78.8 percent found the act to be “negative,” while the remaining 21.2 percent turned out to be “positive.”
Most of the negative sentiments came from various news outlets, mainly INQUIRER.net who shared the most percentage of negative sentiments at 44.7, Rappler at 18.3 percent and the Philippine STAR at 4.2 percent.
In terms of positive sentiments, blogs and vlogging platforms like TikTok (75.2 percent), YouTube (9.9 percent), and Twitter (4.3 percent) shared the most number of positive sentiments regarding the controversy.
The unfavorable sentiments that surrounded the contentious drag performance imply that there may be possible issues in Pura Luka Vega’s reputation, particularly on the platforms that were highlighted, which contributed to the poor perception as a whole.
“Ostiya Review” Controversy
Prior to the “Ama Namin” controversy, netizens were quick to dig deep into the artist’s content about “Ostya review,” a sacramental bread eaten by the Catholic faithful during communion. The review was posted in April 2023 but garnered traction anew amid Pura’s “Ama Namin” performance.
According to Capstone-Intel, the audience’s sentiment on the review earned a 100 percent negative sentiment among social media users.
Topic Interactions and sentiment to Pura Luka Vega controversy
On the other hand, Capstone-Intel’s topic analysis also covered insight into various topics related to Pura Luka Vega and their share of voice, interactions, and sentiment.
Entertainment News
The result showed that “Entertainment News” (which includes all features related to Pura) garnered the level of interaction from the audience with 20.1 percent of interaction share in the issue. The sentiment distribution for “Entertainment News” is predominantly neutral at 77.40 percent share, with a majority of people expressing neutral views about the subject. In comparison, 19.40 percent is positive, and only 3.20 percent is negative.
Meanwhile, the share of voice, or the number of mentions, posts, and interactions, stood at 7 percent.
Drag Jesus Controversy
Another data revealed that “Drag Jesus Controversy” became the second-highest topic of discussion linked to Pura as it recorded a 10.5 percent share of voice, but it can be seen that the interaction share recorded a lower percentage score at 2.7 percent.
The “Drag Jesus Controversy” topic elicits significantly more negative feelings 19.60 percent) than positive sentiments 4.30 percent, with the majority of people having neutral opinions on the matter recording a 76.10 percent share.
Negative Reactions
This category contains responses that are negative to Pura Luka Vega. Although these responses have a significant share of the overall voice, audience engagement with them is relatively low. The “Negative Reactions” topic shows a high amount of negative sentiment at 37.20 percent, followed by neutral sentiment at 53.50 percent, and a lesser proportion of positive sentiment at 9.30 percent.
Drag Queen Controversy
Although it received a lot of attention, the Drag Queen Controversy had a meager interaction share, which indicates that the audience was not as actively engaged as it could have been. Concerning the “Drag Queen Controversy” topic, the majority of respondents, mainly 94.70 percent, have a neutral sentiment. In comparison, a lesser percentage at 5.30 percent has a negative sentiment, and no positive sentiment has been noted.
The scrutiny
The investigation into Pura Luka Vega’s contentious drag act as well as the outrage surrounding the review of “Ostiya,” finds a significant number of negative sentiments, pointing to the possibility of troubles regarding his reputation. Even though particular authors did express a few positive views, the general sentiment continues to be negative. Additionally, the “Rest of Mentions” category is responsible for the majority of the share of voice and significantly drives audience engagement because it encompasses a wide variety of discourse.
