Bretman Rock, a Filipino-born internet and beauty influencer, dedicated his newly released Pride-themed digital magazine cover to gay and queer Filipino kids.
Bretman has featured and produced five covers for the Nylon MNL magazine for the June issue. The Hawaiian-based influencer has then taken the opportunity to promote awareness and campaigns for equality for the LGBTQA+ community.
“That cover was my love letter to all of the gay, queer, Filipino kids out there because I believe we all deserve our own magazine cover,” Bretman said in his Instagram story.
“Obviously, I’m from the Philippines and the cover is with Nylon Manila, and it’s not all the time that you get to see an openly gay man on the cover of a magazine, especially back home in the Philippines,” he said in the video.
Nylon MNL posted on Twitter saying, “@bretmanrock is making his platform matter, using his voice for awareness and advocacies that everyone should not only be talking about but fighting for. The one closest to his heart? True pride and equality for the LGBTQIA+ community.”
.@bretmanrock is making his platform matter, using his voice for awareness and advocacies that everyone should not only be talking about, but fighting for. The one closest to his heart? True pride and equality for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Read more: https://t.co/EdJcrWQUGv pic.twitter.com/r4YSug5YLu
— NYLON Manila (@NYLONManila) June 25, 2021
Bretman shared how “iconic,” “important” and “legendary” this cover for him because having a gay man as a magazine cover especially in the Philippines does not happen a lot so it was a big moment for him to represent the community in his photoshoot.
He shared his experience working with an all-Filipino crew and how the Filipino culture was patronized behind the scenes. He said this cover was all for the “baklas” (gay).
“I worked on this with an entire team of Filipino creatives, from the Filipino banters behind the scene, the bibinka (bibingka) and Jollibee we had for lunch and being on FaceTime with Manila the whole day- this project was as Filipino through and through ?? 2/5 covers,” he wrote.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQjRXEGlvuH/
Meanwhile, Bretman was teary-eyed during his announcement and apologized for being emotional saying, “… I cannot get through this video ‘cause every 5 seconds I’m gonna say a word and I’m gonna cry.”
Here’s Bretman Rock’s emotional compilation of his Instagram stories dedicated to gay Filipino kids:
Bretman with his unique sense of humor, vlogging skills, and being the voice of his community has already garnered 8.62 million subscribers on YouTube, 16.8 million followers on Instagram, and 5.7 million followers on Twitter.
