8:35 p.m. | Updated
The television personality who plays La Comay, a Puerto Rican puppet that started a media firestorm in November over comments on the air that concerned the death of a publicist, has resigned.
Antulio Kobbo Santarrosa, resigned Tuesday from WAPA Television, an independent network in Puerto Rico. He left after new guidelines were put in place to manage the content of the show, called “SuperXclusivo,” including recording it before its 6 p.m. broadcast time and staying away from offensive language.
Mr. Santarrosa’s contract includes a clause that prohibits “tortuous, illegal, obscene, offensive or distasteful remarks or conduct in connection with the shows.”
He and his sidekick on the show, Héctor Travieso, walked out of the studio after a disagreement with the network’s president, Jose E. Ramos, said a person with direct knowledge of the incident who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Mr. Ramos declined to comment.
The show, one of the island’s most popular, resumed production on Monday after a holiday break. After Mr. Santarrosa and Mr. Travieso left, the network replayed Monday’s episode.
In a statement posted to its Web site Wednesday, the network apologized to viewers, saying that Mr. Santarrosa had walked out “without consulting WAPA management.”
“SuperXclusivo,” which is broadcast five days a week from 6 to 7 p.m., a critical time slot for the network, was suspended indefinitely. The network said it would broadcast movies instead this week.
Calls for a boycott of the show began after La Comay (roughly translated as the Godmother) asked whether the publicist, José Enrique Gómez Saladín, 32, who was murdered in November, had been “asking for this.” In recent weeks, the show lost prominent advertisers, like Walmart and ATT.
The puppet was created by Mr. Santarrosa. “SuperXclusivo” has been on WAPA, which is owned by the private equity firm InterMedia, since 1999.
Mr. Santarrosa has had shows with similar characters on other networks, including Telemundo. It was unclear Wednesday whether Mr. Santarrosa would take the puppet to another network.
Tanzina Vega writes about advertising and digital media. Follow @tanzinavega on Twitter.
Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/controversial-puppeteer-resigns-in-puerto-rico/?partner=rss&emc=rss