Was the media wrong in keeping up with the Yulos?

It was supposed to be a golden moment.

Carlos “Caloy” Yulo, 24, has achieved something no Filipino has ever done: bagging two Olympic gold medals for the Philippines. The first gold was claimed on Aug. 3 at the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics floor exercises final. It was an unbelievable moment being the first gold medal for the Philippines in the 2024 Paris Games, the first for a Filipino in gymnastics, and the very first for a Filipino man ever. The day after, a more relaxed and jubilant Yulo doubled down and surprised the world when he won his second gold at the vault finals, carving his name twice into history books as the only Filipino to stand on the Olympics podium twice.

Unfortunately, as congratulatory cheers erupted in every corner of the nation, social media users began peering into the private life of the new champ and shared screenshots of Yulo’s mother’s posts. They found and magnified for all to see the dirty laundry of the Yulos, and the family’s apparent disagreements over money, Yulo’s girlfriend, and the latter’s fashion choices.

On Monday, in our humble newsroom, while the issue was raised during the story conference, our news program purposely did not cover the brewing private scuffle. We were hoping the issue would not reach a critical mass of national interest to warrant space in our limited lineup. If only I had a relationship with Yulo’s mother to advise her: Keep your mouth shut. Alas, the tabloid radio beat us to it and she granted interviews. The inexperienced mom of an athlete who suddenly catapulted to fame, willingly and unwittingly opened the doors into their private life.

We also still would not have carried the story had Yulo, the new champ himself, kept mum about the subject. But as naive and inexperienced in the world of fame as his mom, the young Olympian broke his silence, on TikTok no less. Perhaps in his eagerness to finally break free from all the pent-up family pressure, he addressed the issues one by one. Perhaps he thought this would put the issue to rest. He was not wrong to speak his truth. But I think he could have exercised grace and restraint. Perhaps he could have waited maybe just a week more so as not to tarnish what should have been a majestic denouement to his longtime Olympic dream.

Instead, the man of the hour cartwheeled and landed firmly right in the middle of a controversy, summoning further the attention and wrath of know-it-all onlookers who, just two days ago, were happily cheering him on. Yulo’s girlfriend did not help calm the social media frenzy either.

As if that was not enough, the mother seemingly wanted the final say and called a press conference the day after. “Stop giving us material already,” I thought as I watched Angelica Yulo tearfully ask her son for forgiveness. Great, now we had to broadcast another angle to this story. Whatever happened to private video messages or calls, I wondered.

Some have now blamed mainstream media for making matters worse. But what do we do if the subjects willingly give us soundbites to air? If I were to fault anyone, it was the first guy who poked the angry beast to sell engagements on a hot topic, costing all of us a supposed glorious news week of feel-good celebrations.

Caloy, my heartfelt congratulations to you. Despite what is happening, no one can take your achievements away from you. Remember that. You are a living legend. But I do hope you have learned a valuable lesson in restraint. Now if any brand or individual with the means to do so and cares enough to preserve the sanity and marketability of our national treasure Caloy, my advice is to get them all into therapy: the mom, the dad, the siblings who are also gymnasts, Caloy, the girlfriend, and her family. Get them a public relations manager as well. There was absolutely no need to call the press. Or entertain them.

Barbie Muhlach,

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