“Tastes Like Butt": Benny Blanco’s Brutal Review of Jollibee Sparks Outrage
He did change his mind in the end.
(SPOT.ph) Next to our karaoke powers, Filipinos online like to take pride in our food. So if there’s one thing you can bet everyone will die on a hill for, it’s Jollibee—especially if you aren’t being nice about it.
American music producer and songwriter behind “Love Yourself, “Payphone,” and “Teenage Dream” (and Selena Gomez's new boyfriend) Benny Blanco posted a food review of Jollibee on his TikTok—and let’s just say he was brutally honest with his reactions. So honest that the video has reached 4.3 million views. He started off by explaining that he’s no stranger to Filipino food since he grew up with a Filipino stepmom—but he’s never tried Jollibee before.
First up in his review: Chickenjoy with adobo rice.
He was excited at first, but that quickly died down with his first impression of the meal: “Look at this dry-ass adobo rice. Tastes like butt.” For him, the Chickenjoy was passable but it was only because of the gravy.
The Jolly Spaghetti didn't fare any better. He said it “smelled like vomit,” so much so that he was forced to cover his nose when he opened the family platter. Blanco couldn't even keep a bite down as he spat out the spaghetti: “I feel like that just ruined my night. Ew, Jollibee, ew!”
@itsbennyblanco my first time trying jollibee
♬ Little Things - Adrian Berenguer
The only thing Blanco ended up liking from his meal were the pineapple juice and the peach mango pie, but even those weren’t enough to redeem the homegrown fast-food chain.
“It’s good but like, don’t go to Jollibee. This shit sucks,” Blanco said.
Also read: Lauv Randomly Performing at a Jollibee Is a Whole Vibe
Filipinos call out Benny Blanco’s disrespectful review of Jollibee
For the Internet, it’s one thing to not like something, it’s another to be openly disrespectful about it. Filipinos flocked to the Tiktok's comments section to air out their two cents about Blanco's review, which they believe fell in the latter category.
“You wrong for this, I’m ready for Bretman to cuss you out,” one user wrote.
“You just made some enemies with that Jollibee disrespect,” another user wrote. Even foreigners chimed in to defend the Filipino favorite: “I’ve never had Jollibee but I don’t trust your opinion.”
Others came to Blanco's defense, stating that he is free to voice out his preferences—even if that means going against popular opinion.
Over at X (formerly Twitter), a similar discussion is taking place:
To be fair with Blanco, he gave Jollibee another shot in a follow up video.
“Apparently, all the Jollibees suck in LA. They’re not as good as in the Philippines or New York but my friend told me I had to get the Spicy Chicken Sandwhich.” Immediately, Blanco was impressed—he couldn’t help but to take several more bites of the burger.
“Not only this sandwich so good, I completely reverse my opinion of how [Jollibee] sucked. You can go there just for this,” Blanco concluded. At least he’s open-minded enough to change his mind!
In the same video, he also expanded his taste test to include an array of traditional Filipino dishes like lumpia shanghai, longganisa, chicken inasal, and pancit that he ordered from a famous LA-based Filipino restaurant (most of which he really enjoyed!).
What say you—should we forgive the man?
Also read: Not Even LE SSERAFIM'S Yunjin Can Resist Halo-Halo and Jollibee
this strange new world.