The outfits of the US hip-hop band the Black Eyed Peas during their performance at the public television’s New Year’s Eve concert caused a split in the Polish governing coalition, with a junior coalition partner accusing the Law and Justice (PiS) party of promoting LGBTQ ideology.
The Black Eyed Peas accepted the invitation from TVP, described by media freedom watchdogs as government-controlled, to take part in its live-broadcasted New Year’s Eve concert in Zakopane mountain resort. During their performance, the band members wore rainbow armbands, which they admitted was a reference to the Polish government’s homophobic views.
“We are Black Eyed Peas, or Black Eyed Peace (…). We are not Black Eyed PiS,” band co-founder William James Adams (will.i.am) said in a video posted on Instagram during the concert. “Unity, tolerance, understanding, oneness, respect, diversity and inclusion… That’s love,” he tweeted.
Many observers concluded that the band must have played a trick on TVP, which supports the Polish government. They believed the band member’s outfit was not agreed upon beforehand, although one of the TVP hosts claimed otherwise.
The incident caused a spat between the PiS party and its far-right junior coalition partner Solidary Poland, which accused TVP of promoting LGBTQ “deviance” for public money. Public-financed TVP manifested its support for the movement representing anti-Christian values that go against the Polish constitutional order, Solidary Poland MP Anna Siarkowska told Interia.
“It is unacceptable,” she said, calling it necessary to figure out whether it was an independent decision by TVP or politicians gave it the green light. One way or another, it will have its political consequences, Siarkowska added.
Solidary Poland will never accept the promotion of LGBTQ in public television – an issue in which the party “fundamentally differs” from PiS and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, said the party leader, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. Both Ziobro and Siarkowska are to discuss the incident with Morawiecki. It is not yet known whether the talks will seriously affect the coalition’s future.
Responding to the accusations by coalition partner, MEP Joachim Brudziński (PiS) called PiS “a party of freedom,” adding that “PiS members do not care about people’s (sexual) preferences.”
In recent years, local governments governed by PiS were the main ones behind the infamous “LGBT-free” resolutions condemned by Brussels, which led the European Union to withdraw the financing for some towns under the town twinning initiative.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
Source: euractiv.com
