NAGBIGAY NA ng pahayag si Johnny Manahan o kilala rin bilang Mr. M kung bakit siya umalis bilang head ng Star Magic, ang talent arm ng ABS-CBN.
Sa exclusive interview ng PEP ay inamin ni Mr. M na nagkaroon ng problema ang Star Magic dahil sa mga nagsulputang “shadow talent center” sa ABS-CBN. Meaning, bukod sa Star Magic, may iba na ring grupo ang nagmama-manage ng talent sa loob ng TV network.
“There’s a shadow talent center in ABS-CBN, and they have their own managers and they manage their own stars.
“The people from the Pinoy Big Brother, we expected to manage these people after they come out of the house.
“No, they set up their own organization. It was like a counter organization,” deklara ng director/star builder.
Idinagdag din ni Mr. M na may mga dating PBB housemates na sa halip na nasa pangangalaga ng Star Magic ay mga taga-PBB na ang nagma-manage.
Aniya, “Dati kasi yung PBB, pumupunta sa Star Magic. After a while, ever since they got the idea na maybe they should put up their own, they started picking people who they wanted to pick. In other words, yung latak papunta sa amin.”
Bukod sa PBB ay meron na ring Star Hunt ang ABS-CBN para sa kanilang mga reality shows. May sumulpot ding Shine Artists na ang mga artists ay galing ng Star Magic.
“It’s not like I was whining and complaining. My people were complaining to me, ‘Mr. M, papaano ba iyan? They have their own talent center and their own talents.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s not too nice. That makes us irrelevant.’ Maybe they’re trying to make us irrelevant,” pahayag ni Mr. M.
Ayon pa kay Mr. M kinausap na niya ang higher management tungkol sa mga “shadow talent center” pero wala raw namang nangyari.
“We brought it up to highest management and nothing happened. I miss the days when FMG (Freddie M. Garcia) and Charo (Santos) were around. Because of their high ethical standards, they would have done something about it,” lahad pa niya.
