BJ Pascual stands by 'unprofessional' claim against Denise Julia, asserts he gave her a large discount for their shoot

Accommodating Denise Julia's budget

Sharing some screenshots of their conversations, Pascual maintained that they "made significant efforts to reduce costs to comply with their desired deliverables" given factors such as manpower, logistics, and other hard expenses.

"We managed to lower the budget of P1.2 million, which was already negotiable, as is customary. Despite this, we genuinely wanted to support an up-and-coming Filipino artist," he said.

"To further accommodate her and her team's budget request, we even helped negotiate the cost down and eventually offered a discounted rate of P371,000 for a one-day shoot—well below industry standards and within their working budget of P800,000 This is a crucial detail that wasn't in her video statement," he detailed.

In the screenshots, it could be seen that Pascual's manager had sent a breakdown of the costs to Julia's team with the total amount being P371,160. Pascual, who provided lights and other equipment, was supposed to be paid P50,000. 

The budget was allegedly the primary reason why the photoshoot was called off in the first place, with Julia claiming that Pascual's team "did not get back to us about this budget despite my manager checking in and following up to make sure that the budget is doable to begin with."

"On our end, if this isn't something that they can work with, we would have pulled back immediately already from the start if they had only told us that this is not doable for them, that's not the price range they can work with. We will respect that and just move on, move past it, and maybe work in the future for a different type of thing where both of us can align," she stressed.

On delayed responses and cancellation

Pascual also addressed Julia's allegation that his team was not responding immediately.

The photographer, through his manager, had informed the singer's team that his "calendar is packed for the next few weeks" and that they had an online meeting in lieu of a face-to-face discussion.

"As stated in the podcast, this shoot was more of a passion project for me. I've worked on similar projects with numerous celebrities, where the approach is often more flexible and based on mutual trust and respect," the photographer explained.

"Despite our packed schedule and some delays on my end at the start, our team made every effort to accommodate and support her and her team," he added.

In line with the shoot schedule, he asserted that the date was "clearly agreed upon" in their message on July 31, which was weeks before the shoot.

According to him, Julia was also made aware of the schedule in their private message exchange and was reminded of the details needed from her part such as styling and glam.

"Since she responded to my message in agreement, we assumed she was fully aware of the details at that time," he said.

Pascual also shed light on how the project was ultimately cancelled.

"Approximately nine hours before our call time, [Julia's manager] JV informed us that he had spoken with Denise, and they felt they were 'not ready.' However, their hesitation wasn't due to the budget (as Denise claimed in the video) but because the glam team had canceled on them. Even though we had managed to secure a hair/makeup artist for the next day, they still felt unprepared," Pascual explained.

"According to JV, he was in contact with Denise when the situation was happening, so it's confusing why they are now attributing the cancellation to the budget," he added.

In their chat, which took place after the submission of the discounted budget, Julia's team was also informed that the production designer and her team were already in the process of constructing the sets.

"When the topic of rescheduling and the incurred cancellation fee came up, her team claimed there had been no confirmation, despite their earlier messages clearly indicating otherwise," Pascual said.

Because of this, he confirmed Julia's claim that that it was indeed his team who had cancelled the shoot approximately 6.5 hours before the scheduled call time "out of respect for the time of everyone involved."

"We promptly informed everyone, including the suppliers. In the end, I personally covered the costs for the team who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure everything was in place for the shoot, and this was clearly communicated to them," he highlighted.

Pascual expressed his hope that sharing the full context "will help put this issue to rest" before apologizing for addressing the matter on Christmas Day." He implored the public to "move forward from here with positivity and growth."

Denise Julia to take legal action

On her X account, Julia reposted Pascual's statement and accompanied it with a screen recording of their respective managers' full conversation with each other for full transparency as they "have nothing to hide."

"We went into this wanting to work with you—we’re genuine fans and were so excited about the collaboration. From the very beginning, we were upfront about our budget and what we can afford to execute the music video, the photoshoot, the album art, the trailer and press photos," the R&B singer said.

She went on to say that she had delayed her "entire release date" just to be able to work with Pascual out of respect for his time.

"I’ve stayed quiet for as long as I could, but I needed to say my piece. Even until the end my manager was still trying to make this work, suggesting solutions and new dates so we can re-align and no one’s effort goes to waste," she argued.

"What hurts the most is seeing my character publicly attacked over something that’s not just out of my control but is a business negotiation between our managers and conversation that should’ve stayed private. You targeted me to bring me down," Julia lamented.

She shared that she and her team are now in contact with their legal team about a defamation suit. 

"I thought this was something we had agreed on to talk about in person. I hate that this had to go this way when it didn’t have to," she said.

How the issue started

The issue between them began when Pascual openly talked about his unpleasant experience with Julia and her team in Kush's podcast, which has now been deleted on YouTube but is still up on Spotify.

During their discussion, he was asked by Kush about the "worst celebrity" he has ever worked with for a shoot, to which he answered that it was Julia. Kush then shared her own bad experience about her, claiming that the singer was "four hours late" for a podcast they had in the past.

The night before Pascual and Julia's scheduled shoot, the photographer said Julia’s team informed him they wanted to cancel it, with her manager insisting that they couldn't commit to the shoot the next day.

Pascual noted they had to pay cancellation fees for the studio, production designer, and the stylist, which he had to pay for. 

Thankfully, they were able to push through with the shoot as another celebrity agreed to do it. After that incident, he said he "never heard" from Julia again. "No thank you, no sorry, no anything. Nothing," he claimed. 

In her Instagram stories, Julia said she has reached out to Pascual after his statements about her on the podcast, highlighting that she is "fully acknowledging my mistake of not reaching out" to him after the incident.

She, however, denied that she cancelled their shoot, noting that her manager "was still trying to make it work."

Later on, Julia also implied that she wants to take legal action against Kush for the tardiness claims the influencer made against her.