John Borja’s friend skunkyfunk has posted on the Below Empty forums in response to many critical fans questioning if he and Borja were telling the truth about the extent of Borja’s auditioning with STP for their singer job following STP recently confirming Borja will not be their new singer, and criticizing certain singer hopefuls of ‘inappropriate self-promoting’ that is ‘out of line.’ Pete Murray is the only rumored name still in the running, though STP’s new singer could easily be someone who has never been rumored.
“Trying to cough out money to stay in LA (like $6,000) in a span of 3 weeks notice prior to a specified date is a great way to show some fanboyism isn’t it? Consider that a day’s minimum salary here in Manila is an hour’s minimum in LA. And this was all possible because of borrowed money.
Just FYI, John had literally no means to get to LA. All he had was talent. The visa application in itself was plagued with dilemmas. The Visa interviews were interesting though. The consuls would always suspect entertainers to overstay when applying for a Visa (and get denied), but in John’s case, the consuls saw his audition submissions on Youtube, and the articles pertaining to STP hopeful John. Thank God the consul was an STP fan. John and I almost missed the date because of limited lead time, but thanks to those 2 persons who cancelled their Visa interview slots 5 days before the required date. We literally got our visas, tickets and passports 2 days before the flight. It took tremendous preparation, not to mention financial scuffles – ALL AT OUR EXPENSE.”
Whatever John posts on his FB page is not under my control though. But definitely, he wouldn’t post something if there was not a splotch of truth to what he is saying. And thanks to the “media” who deliberately misquote what he says. Like when he says things about California or stuff like that, or when he says he received good news. OF COURSE! It was a dream vacation fulfilled that only few can achieve in their lifetime given his stature.
“This is ridiculous. John ALWAYS posts himself with different people. It doesn’t have to be someone who is famous or not. Now let me get this straight…. JOHN IS NOT SELF-PROMOTING. He wasn’t doing before this whole fricking STP thing, and it won’t happen after unless he knew it was leading to something. These things could have skyrocketed his career for Christ’s sake.
For someone as humble as he is, the last thing he will do is use this opportunity to promote himself or his career.
We turned down interviews from a correspondent from Billboard, two major TV networks in the country, Inquirer (a local newspaper) and other great press because we knew it was inappropriate to do that given the situation. He also turned down a job offer to sing for a rather famous super band in the making in the Philippines to avoid any conflicts.”
Stone Temple Pilots were recently interviewed on Rock 98.9, and they revealed that John Borja has not been hired as their new singer. They called out rejected singers for ‘inappropriate self-promotion.’
Kim: There were tons of rumors about STP’s new lead singer, like some guy who was on American Idol or something, a Pilipino kid. Were you guys aware of all those rumors that were swirling?
Robert DeLeo: Rubbish, rubbish, all rubbish. All rubbish.
Dean DeLeo: There’s been a lot of, it’s been an opportunity for some people to really do some inappropriate self-promotion, is what I should say. And that’s really kind of out of line.
Kim: So you did know about the rumors?
Robert: Yes, yes.
Dean: I went to see Royal Blood, last month. And I ran into…
Kim: Amazing band!
Dean: Oh my goodness, incredible. They were extraordinary. I saw them over at the Wiltern with my wife and my son and I ran into John McEnroe.
Kim: Oh really?
Dean: And McEnroe goes “You didn’t hire that Pilipino guy did you?”
Kim: Come on, John McEnroe and a Royal Blood show?
Dean: I go, “No, we did not John.” John is a huge fan.
