Digital cake fight erupts at Thaksin's birthday bash
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Thaksin Shinawatra was in a conciliatory mood in a video posted for his 64th birthday yesterday on the Facebook page of his son Panthongtae, linked from YouTube. He said his return home (or the timing of it) is not as important as ensuring that Thailand a
The message from afar touched the heartstrings of plenty of people. The video drew more than 13,000 “likes” and hundreds of “shares”. But over at YouTube, many of the comments waxed nasty. “Why don’t you come home? No one banned you,” someone asked the fugitive from Thai justice. Others said he should stop wasting their time by pretending he cares about the country.
By early afternoon the viewer-comment section on YouTube was disabled, erasing everything that had been posted through the morning. Panthongtae was meanwhile filtering out negative remarks on Facebook, so the haters switched to ASTV Manager, which had snagged the video and even transcribed Thaksin’s message. The comments section is bulging. Probably not a good idea for any Thaksin admirers to visit.
Life imitates art
The clamour for a clampdown on the hit TV series “Hormones” might intensify now that a 16-year-old star of the show has been caught taking an illicit drug. Her dad called a press conference at GTH, the studio that makes the show, to lament that it was indeed his kid in a photo spreading online. He’d confronted her and she admitted to trying drugs once.
“It happened because she’s young and inexperienced,” said the father, whose surname the girl shares, so we’re not identifying either one. He gave a wai and apologised to society for his daughter’s misbehaviour.
GTH executive Yongyoot thongkongtoon later praised the father for reacting responsibly. “He requested that she be given a break from work so she has time to think and relax.” She’s completed shooting the series anyway, but will probably forgo commercial jobs.
Director Songyos Sugmakanan was “shocked and distressed” at the news, but grateful to the father for telling the truth. “I do believe she’ll grow from this.” Songyos said he would not be cutting the girl’s scenes from the episodes still to air.
The father emerged as a true hero in discussion on the social media. “Some parents protect their kids the wrong way,” it was commonly noted. Not this time, not this dad. And his daughter didn’t go without sympathy. Another actor, Natthawut “Por” Skidjai, tweeted, “Though I don’t know you personally, you have got my support. One can make a mistake. We accept and fix it.”
