Who are the personalities involved in the BJ Pascual-Denise Julia issue?
What was supposed to be a festive time this holiday season turned messy when a conflict between singer-songwriter Denise Julia and celebrity photographer BJ Pascual resurfaced online.
It all started when Pascual named Julia as the "worst celebrity" he's ever worked with in the viral podcast of content creator Killa Kush. He alleged that Julia cancelled their scheduled photoshoot at the last minute and refused to pay any fees—a claim that Julia denied.
Pascual stood by his remarks against Julia in his latest statement, while the latter revealed that she's now in contact with their legal team about a defamation suit.
With their issue being a hot topic on social media these days, some users are still asking, "Who are they?"
Here are some things you should know about the names involved in the issue.
Denise Julia
Julia is a rising artist in the world of OPM, having officially kickstarted her music career with her first single Difficult in 2021.
Her place in the industry was further cemented with her single NVMD, which blew up all over TikTok in 2022 and has reached over 200 million streams on Spotify.
Julia dropped her debut album Sweet Nothings (Chapter 1) in November 2023 under Sony Music Entertainment, with one of the highlights being its lead single B.A.D. According to her, the album is a "heartfelt exploration" of the various stages of love, from the "ethereal beginnings" to the "bitter ends."
The local singer is especially passionate about the R&B genre, as she shared that the "soulful sounds of the 90s and 2000s R&B era" heled shape her musical upbringing.
"These songs and the incredible women who brought them to life left a permanent mark on me. Their timeless melodies and soul-baring lyrics continue to inspire me to this day. At the same time, I wanted to infuse a modern twist into my music, to reflect the influence of the R&B women who raised me in the current world," Julia said in her album announcement.
The queer songstress continued the album with Sweet Nothings (Chapter 2), which was recently released in November this year.
Julia has collaborated with other up-and-coming OPM stars like Hillari, Jason Dhaka, P-Lo, Jay R, thuy, and DENȲ.
BJ Pascual
Pascual's name is one of the most recognizable in the local photography scene.
After studying in New York's Parsons School of Design, Fashion Institute of Technology, and the International Center for Photography, he went on to become a go-to photographer for all things celebrity and fashion.
He has worked on a slew of recognizable magazines such as Vogue, L'Officiel, Tatler, Metro, and Preview and has captured the likes of Nadine Lustre, Pia Wurtzbach, Liza Soberano, Anne Curtis, and more with his trusty camera.
His work has also extended to international faces like Vanessa Hudgens, Sky Ferreira, Noah Centineo, and Troye Sivan.
For his successful career in photography, there have even been times when he was in front of the lens and graced the cover of several magazines. He was also tapped as a judge in the first and second seasons of Drag Race Philippines alongside Rajo Laurel and Jon Santos.
Killa Kush
Kush was the one who interviewed Pascual and asked him about "the worst celebrity" he has worked with, which became the inciting incident in the whole conflict.
She is a content creator with a growing following on different platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, with more than 100,000 followers each.
Apart from doing makeup tutorials and sharing her thoughts about random topics, Kush is also known for her podcast Bad B*tch Bible on YouTube and Spotify.
Its description reads, "Pour yourself a drink, leave your judgement behind and listen in! Killa Kush tells you all you'll ever need to know about being a bad b*tch through raw, relatable and provocative conversations while tearing apart misogyny and homophobia. Hit play when you're trying to get over your sh*tty ex, doing your makeup or pre-gaming for a night out!"
Kush previously interviewed Julia and her creative director Carissa King on her podcast, where she asked the pair about their friendship. Kush claimed in the same podcast with Pascual that Julia and King were four hours late to the filming at the time, which allegedly caused the influencer to have to pay a hefty amount of fees to the studio they were renting to extend their time.
Aside from that, she claimed she had to pay for cancellation fees when Julia and King postponed their guesting to a later date due to unforeseen circumstances.
Carissa King
According to her Instagram account, King busies herself as a multi-disciplinary artist and frequently posts about stunning paintings depicting women.
She has also painted portraits of prominent personalities such as former vice president Leni Robredo and celebrities Pia Wurtzbach and Andrea Brillantes.
King is a close friend of Julia and serves as her creative director. She previously worked on the cover art for the singer's B.A.D. single.
Her involvement in the issue came when she addressed the tardiness claims made against her and Julia by Kush, explaining that Julia had "unforeseen mental and physical health emergencies" that prompted them to reschedule the podcast.
As for them being late, she said that they left for the studio one and a half hour before the call time as they expected the travel time to only last for an hour. She said heavy traffic made them late for about two hours. King stressed that they were "very apologetic" for the delay and Julia even offered to pay for the costs.
John Vincent Salcedo and Pearl Acuesta
In the screenshots posted by Julia and Pascual, it can be seen that the conversations were shared between a certain "JVS" and Pearl Acuesta.
"JVS" or John Vincent Salcedo is Julia's manager, who is also the youngest Vice President and only Filipino executive of Columbia Records. He made it to Forbes' 30 under 30 list in the music category in 2022.
Acuesta, meanwhile, is the manager of Pascual. She has also worked with the likes of Liz Uy.
How the issue started
The controversy between Julia and Pascual began when the latter 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 about the "worst celebrity" he has ever worked with for a shoot, to which he answered that it was Julia.
The night before their 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."
Pascual later posted more screenshots about their conversation and insisted that he had lowered the price of the shoot to P371,000 from the previous P1.2 million, which was way above the budget of Julia's team.
Following this, the singer said that she is now seeking a defamation case against Pascual. She also implied that she wants to take legal action against Kush for the tardiness claims the influencer made against her.
