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© Anelia Nikolova
Emil Koshlukov apologized to those affected.
Two Jewish organizations in Bulgaria – “Shalom” and members of B’ney B’rit’s Sofia Lodge “Carmel” accused singer and host of BNT “The Last Wins” show Orlin Goranov of anti-Semitism for a quote containing speech by hate. The case prompted an apology from the general director of public television, Emil Koshlukov, and the national anti-Semitism coordinator and deputy foreign minister, Georg Georgiev, said he was outraged by the anti-Semitic comments.
It’s a statement by chess player Bobby Fischer, which Goranov quotes. He denies the existence of gas chambers. On February 23, on the show, Goranov asked a question of a participant in the game. “What chess player has Jewish roots that does not prevent him from speaking out strongly against Jews?” After giving the correct answer: Bobby Fischer, Goranov reads the controversial quote.
The following day, February 24, Sofia Carmel Lodge of B’nei B’rit wrote to the prosecutor’s office, BNT CEO Emil Koshlukov, and the Council for Electronic Media (CEM), calling the statement an “act shameful”.
“We are convinced that such demonstrations are contrary to the tolerant character of our society. Tolerance, however, is not a constant fact, but rather needs to be reaffirmed and defended daily through active action. We insist on the responsible institutions – PRB, CEM, BNT – to implement the necessary measures to sanction this shameful act, as well as to inform the public about the actions they will take to prevent the use of hate speech on the national air, “writes the organization.
Later that day, another organization of Jews in Bulgaria, Shalom, wrote on its Facebook page that they had reached out to the national anti-Semitism coordinator, Georg Georgiev. At the end of the working day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published its position. It reads:
“Hate speech in all its forms has no place in the Bulgarian public space and its stage should not be the most watched moment in the national media. Anti-Semitism is historically excluded from
the traditionally tolerant character of the Bulgarians. The retort of those associated with the denial of one of the darkest periods in human history is an insult to the memory of millions of innocent victims.
I am strongly opposed to any attempt to rewrite history. Ignorance is dangerous, and distorting and hiding the truth has the potential to affect democratic values that
we rise as a people “.
Shortly before that, BNT issued an apology to Emil Koshlukov, who called the statement “hateful” and announced that it should be “categorically condemned.” “In my personal capacity and on behalf of the Bulgarian National Television, I offer my deepest apologies to the affected parties. Those words definitely have no place on the air of public television and any medium,” Koshlukov said, as quoted. .
The General Director of BNT writes that immediate actions have been taken to clarify the situation, explanations have been requested from the program team, which is an external production, as well as from the employees responsible on television for processing and admitting air content. “As CEO of BNT, I will impose the harshest penalties on all those guilty of the error. I make it clear that the BNT air is not and will not be a platform for such ugly and false innuendo, or for instilling hatred and inciting enmity. ”Concludes the declaration of the Director General.
In front of “Club 3” host Orlin Goranov says that he did not put anything personal in these words because he quoted the famous Bobby Fisher. “Personally, I don’t think I have done such a thing. Not for anything else, but because they are facts that Bobby Fisher himself once said. I just quoted his words. This is not my position.
Nothing personal, I quoted in this case what Bobby Fisher said. If they have any complaints about it, they should turn to Bobby Fisher, “Goranov adds.
