Taylor Kitsch: Not guilty?

Not guilty.

That, in a sense, is what the publicist of Canadian actor Taylor Kitsch, 30, said in response to Funfare’s e-mailed inquiry into the little mess Kitsch must have unwittingly gotten himself into during his recent guesting on The Late Show With David Letterman.

On the show, Kitsch supposedly claimed that he got rough treatment from an unidentified customs official when he arrived in the Philippines and that the officer demanded that Kitsch give him the iPhone from which Kitsch showed the trailer of his movie Savages, after the officer told Kitsch that there was no more space on his passport to stamp on.

Bad publicity for the Philippines which is still heady with the recent month-long filming of The Bourne Legacy with Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton, which is calculated to help the country regain its reputation as an ideal location for Hollywood shoots.

Kitsch stars in Battleship

Thank heavens for Bureau of Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon who promptly conducted an investigation, saying, “I feel confident that Mr. Kitsch was mistaken.” True enough, the investigation showed that there were no customs or immigration records of Kitsch’s alleged arrival (actually presumably a stopover) at the NAIA. According to an AFP dispatch yesterday, Biazon clarified that no customs officer threatened to send Kitsch back to Japan which was his port of origin.

Furthermore, Biazon said that he learned that no permit had been issued for the shoot in the Philippines of some scenes of Savages, directed by Oliver Stone and also starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman. The filming was actually done in Indonesia.

As usual, some of our kababayan were demanding that the government declare Kitsch a persona non-grata, a drastic move that, if ever, would perhaps make other Hollywood actors have second thoughts about coming to the Philippines — just when the Bourne Legacy shoot is giving our tourism industry a much-needed shot-in-the-arm.

Some people even went too far as to suggest that Kitsch movies be boycotted. As Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago would say, “Wha….!?!”

Kitsch plays the title role in John Carter, opening nationwide today, which is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first novel, A Princess of Mars, which tells the story of a war-weary, former military captain (Carter, that is) who is explicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions against the inhabitants of the planet. Kitsch is also in the cast (with Rihanna, her first big-screen outing) of Battleship which is showing in the Philippines next month.

To help clear the air, Funfare asked for an “official statement” from Kitsch’s publicist Britney Ross…you know, what Kitsch’s reaction is to the brouhaha generated by his David Letterman guesting, if he by any chance is planning to visit the Philippines or if he’s making an apology to the Philippine government.

Here’s Britney’s reply (in full):

Hi, Ricky. Thank you for your inquiry but there is no statement. To help clarify though, did you actually watch the interview? Taylor did not say the incident occurred in the Philippines, it was David Letterman who said that mistakenly. Taylor was caught up in the moment and the excitement of the show and inadvertently failed to correct the error (it WAS a real incident — it happened in Indonesia and Taylor had discussed it a few moments prior with the Letterman producers).

So there.

Who then, if at all, “owes” the Philippines an “apology” or maybe just a simple clarification…the guest or the host of the show?

P.S. My hats off to Secretary Edwin Lacierda, spokesman of Pres. Noynoy Aquino, who issued perhaps the most sober reaction to the incident, saying (quoted in yesterday’s STAR), “It’s more fun in the Philippines,” addressing Kitsch, “so come on over and apologize,” maybe not for maligning the image of the Philippines but for unwittingly failing to correct Letterman on the show.

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Grace Lee:  Not power-tripping?

Grace (above) and Angelicopter (left): Their falling out happened even before Grace was romantically linked to Pres. Noynoy Aquino.

Yes, it’s confirmed: Grace Lee, the presidential girlfriend, has quit the Magic 89.9 program Good Times with Mo, Mojo and Grace effectively immediately.

But it was not because she was, contrary to reports, “power-tripping;” neither was it over her alleged differences with Angelika Schmeing (a.k.a. Angelicopter) who has hurled “unfair accusations” at Grace and indirectly blaming her for her earlier departure from the same station.

No, she wasn’t made to quit.

“I really intended to resign from the show as early as two years ago,” Grace clarified during a phone interview with Funfare yesterday, explaining that she planned to do so long before she was romantically linked to Pres. Noynoy Aquino this year.

According to Funfare sources, Grace’s misunderstanding with Angelicopter started also way before, even before Angelika joined the show two years ago. Grace has been with the station for four years.

“I couldn’t leave at once because ang daming nangyari sa show the past year,” added Grace in fluent Tagalog (she’s Korean as if you didn’t know), “katulad n’ung kay Mo (Twister). Si Mojo nagkasakit and everything, so I couldn’t leave the show because nobody was there to hold it together. In fact, I’d been telling management since two years ago na magri-resign na ako, pero pinigilan nila ako. I did it only when management took in a deejay whom I recommended. She’s my friend.”

Angelicopter joined the recently-concluded Survivor Philippines Celebrity Doubles Showdown. After she was booted out, she reportedly vacationed in New York. The controversy between her and Grace erupted in the media only recently.

“If my resignation was because of my falling-out with Angelicopter,” Grace said, “sana nag-resign na ako before (last) Christmas.”

Asked what caused the falling-out, Grace was mum.

But Funfare learned from other sources that it has something to do with “work ethic.”

“I wonder why Angelicopter would attack me in the media when we could have talked it out between the two of us, away from the media.”

(Note: Angelicopter is welcome to air her side anytime she wants to.)

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit http://www.philstar.com/funfareor follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)