Rabiya Mateo denies free entrance, VIP treatment at IU’s concert: 'Just like you, we had a hard time looking for tickets'
Rabiya Mateo refuted allegations that she and her boyfriend Jeric Gonzales got to attend IU’s Bulacan concert without spending any money on tickets.
The issue started when a certain "Hyein’s modeling agency" fan account on Facebook alleged that a certain celebrity couple suddenly entered the Philippine Arena to watch the South Korean singer-songwriter’s concert without paying for the entrance fee. The account also claimed that the pair demanded to get VIP seats to watch the show.
While Mateo and Gonzales were not named by the poster, they included a screenshot of Gonzales' Instagram story in the comments section.
.jpg)
Mateo has since gotten wind of the now-deleted post and took to her Instagram Story to clarify that the "rumors circulating are not true."
"We bought the tickets for P12,000 each. Just like the rest of them, we worked very hard to afford the tickets and never demanded for any VIP treatment, but we would like to commend the ushers for helping us find our seats," the beauty queen wrote.
She shared that the admin of the fan account has already reached out to them to apologize, reasoning that they made the allegations "out of hearsay."
"We've been scammed the first time we tried to buy these tickets. Just like the rest of you, we had a hard time looking for available tickets," Mateo explained.
"Contrary to what most of you think, walang artista-artista sa paghahanap," she stressed.
The Miss Universe Philippines 2020 titleholder then urged her followers to be wary of what they should believe on social media.
"While others are so quick to have assumptions without getting their facts right shows how people believe what they see online," Mateo wrote.
"Not everything you read is true. Not everything you see is real. Not everything you hear should be posted online at the expense of other people. However, we have laws to protect the innocent and punish those who are guilty," she ended.
In the fan account's apology statement published on Facebook, they acknowledged that it was a mistake on their part to post about Mateo's concert experience "without doing any fact check after hearing everything from the usher or staff."
"I acted on impulse and didn't mean any harm to the said couple. I posted it as an awareness to my fellow K-pop fans who fought hard and worked hard to buy the tickets," they stated.
They promised to continue improving their posts for the community and urged the public to refrain from throwing hateful comments at both Mateo and Gonzales.
IU visited the Philippines as part of her H.E.R.E.H. World Tour. It kicked off in Seoul on March 2 and will end in September.