Carlos Yulo slams slurs on Mark Bautista: ‘Message of encouragement is not a sign of flirting’

Carlos Yulo and Mark Bautista. Image: AP/Matthias Schrader, Instagram/@iammarkbautista

Gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo defended singer Mark Bautista after indecent comments were thrown at the singer for apparently messaging and following Yulo on social media.

This comes after Yulo, apparently thrilled by a greeting from Bautista, posted in Twitter earlier today, Dec. 4, screenshots of Bautista’s Instagram greeting and verified profile. Some of Yulo’s fans and followers thereafter criticized Bautista for allegedly “flirting” with the athlete.

The Southeast Asian (SEA) Games’ bemedaled gymnast gave his two cents on the matter via Twitter this afternoon, Dec. 4. Yulo was saddened by the tweets about Bautista. He also stressed that he only shared about it “out of excitement.”

“Kindness, message of encouragement and appreciation is not a sign of flirting,” the athlete said.

He then encouraged everyone to just focus on “winning as One” in the games.

It saddens me to see tweets about @iammarkbautista because of my tweet out of excitement. Kindness, message of encouragement and appreciation is not a sign of flirting. Let’s focus on #SeaGames2019 and winning as One. ☝🏻🇵🇭

— Carlos Edriel Yulo (@c_edrielzxs) December 4, 2019

The private message from @iammarkbautista to Yulo stated, “Congrats man!!amazing!”

“He messaged me and he followed me [as well],” Yulo noted. 

https://twitter.com/c_edrielzxs/status/1202017218520698881

Some questioned Yulo’s motivation for tweeting the screenshot, while others painted the message with malice. A few netizens also reminded the athlete of some privacy issues that might have been breached. 

One commenter, a certain @jvncnc, also reminded Yulo to “think before you click.”

Screenshot of @jvncnc’s reply to Carlos Yulo. Image: Twitter/@c_edrielzxs

Bautista has yet to comment on Yulo’s posts as of writing. Mark Bautista is open about being a bisexual man, which he spoke about in his book “Beyond the Mark”.

Yulo had to create an official Twitter page recently to counter the existence of fake social media accounts using his name.

Meanwhile, Yulo is bringing more and more medals for the country as he continues to win his events at the 30th SEA Games competition.

After earlier winning the all-around category, the Yulo bagged another gold medal from the men’s floor exercise, and two more silver medals in the still rings and pommel horse yesterday, Dec. 3. JB

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