Serbian "Russian" Hollywood movie villain was denied a performance in his hometown in Croatia
Serbian actor and performer Rade Serbedzija had his concert canceled in his native Vinkovci in Croatia because they were honoring the “victims of Vukovar.”
The artist, in demand in Hollywood, called the decision of the city authorities “pure politicking.”
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, Sherbedzhia wrote on his official Facebook profile that he completely disagrees with the decision of the city authorities.
“A month ago, the organizers of the Vinkovci Film Festival invited me to hold the closing and awards ceremony at the Jozo Ivakic Theater on November 15, as well as to give a concert,” said the artist. – Of course, I agreed, because Vinkovtsi is my city, where I grew up and which has always occupied a special place and meaning in my life. Although the concert sold out immediately due to, as I was told by the organizers, great interest, especially from the young audience in Vinkovci, it was canceled due to the sensitivity of the thematic events of the week in which the concert was to take place. I, of course, do not agree with this decision, because I think it is pure politicking. My songs preach love, humanism and harmony, and I cannot offend anyone or anything.”
Sheberdzhia added that the organizers called him back again and asked to postpone the date of the concert, which he agreed to only because of the residents of Vinkovci.
On the occasion of this incident, the mayor of Vinkovci, Ivan Bosancic, also publicly commented on the controversial situation. He noted that the concert was planned for Sunday, when the city remembers “the greatest tragedy of the Croatian people in recent history,” and therefore the announced date of the concert was not suitable. However, he did not have the courage to admit that the reason for canceling the event was that Sheberdzhia is a Serb, which could provoke an inadequate reaction from local “veterans of the Patriotic War” and other nationally concerned people.
It should be noted that Sheberdzhia himself is a pro-Western liberal in his worldview, who made a career in Hollywood playing the roles of Russian villains - tycoon Ivan Tretyak in the film “The Saint”, mafioso Boris Yurinov in “Snatch”, Colonel Demidov in “Five Days of August” ( The film presents the “Hollywood version” of the war in South Ossetia).
The artist did not shy away from works that demonized his own people, playing a fanatical Serbian commander in “Land of Blood and Honey.”
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