Czech Culture Minister Oto Klempir (Motorists) was booed off by the audience at the Straznice International Folklore Festival on Friday, and his party colleague, Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, received the same reception on Saturday. Writing on social media after the event, Klempir attributed the incident to hostility from the local crowd, as well as the heat and alcohol.
The audience responded to Klempir’s appearance onstage with boos and whistles, according to Novinky.cz. From the moment he stepped among the crowd, Klempir said, it was clear he was in a hostile environment, influenced by alcohol and the heat.
Around 30,000 people regularly attend the festival
“My greeting was accompanied with booing, whistling, vulgarities and hatred,” complained Klempir. “What good is it to surround yourselves with beautiful traditional costumes, music and dance when you succumb to boorishness, vulgarity and resentment?”
Straznice festival spokeswoman Hana Jechova declined to comment on the situation, saying that people had already expressed their views. She told CTK that there had been no other incidents in connection with booing directed at the minister.
According to Novinky.cz, Klempir, who is facing criticism over plans to change the funding of public media, tried to drown out the booing by stating that he did not care what the audience thought of him. He also stated that, regardless of the audience’s stance, he would continue to support the festival.
However, Klempir’s party colleague Boris Stastny, Minister of Sports, Prevention and Health, responded: “I offer the following response to the question posed for consideration: Cancel the subsidies, let ticket prices be determined by the market and don’t go there.”
Macinka, meanwhile, took to the stage on Saturday. His appearance ended with the crowd chanting “Get out!” Yesterday, Macinka wrote on Facebook that he had taken the booing of Klempir as a challenge, and had asked the festival director to let him appear on the stage. He added that he had been invited to the festival as a deputy prime minister and had not originally planned to speak.
In response to the Straznice audience’s booing and chants urging him to leave the stage, he ranted at the audience that they didn’t know what they were doing: “We are at a folklore festival… you’re turning this festival into a political event,” he said. “You’ve lost your minds. It wasn’t even like this under the Bolsheviks… You’re ruining your own festival.”
Klempir’s statement on social media sparked a wave of reactions from the opposition.
“I have visited Straznice several times,” wrote Klempir’s predecessor, Martin Baxa (ODS). “It is a joy to be there with the people, whereas the current culture minister thinks his fellow countrymen are drunken rednecks.”
In a TV debate on CNN Prima News yesterday, opposition politicians as well as Deputy Prime Minister Alena Schillerova (ANO) criticised the behaviour of the Motorists party’s ministers.
According to Schillerova, people go to the festival for a nice experience, not to listen to politicians. She also rejected Stastny’s proposal for cutting subsidies for the festival, stating that: “Subsidy policy is not determined by booing”. Macinka also rejected this measure during the same debate.
However, Schillerova rejected a suggestion from Pirate Party leader Zdenek Hrib that Klempir should be replaced as a minister, insisting that no ministerial reshuffle was on the agenda.
Hrib described Stastny’s outburst as “Bolshevik tactics” and “harming people who disagree with the views of ruling politicians.”
STAN leader Vit Rakusan argued that it was the Motorists who politicised the festival, not the audience, and described the statement about withdrawing subsidies from the festival as grounds for dismissal from the government.
The festival began on Friday with performances by foreign ensembles for schools, and ran until Sunday. The largest crowds at the amphitheaters around Straznice Chateau were seen on Friday and Saturday. Due to the heat, the organisers cancelled the festive parade through the town.
The festival is organised by the National Institute of Folk Culture, a state-funded organisation under the Ministry of Culture. The institute distanced itself from political statements made at the festival, and stated that the festival could not take place without the long-term support of the ministry. They also used this explanation to justify giving the platform to Klempir.
“His performance was not intended as a political statement. We consider the reaction it provoked to be regrettable, as it overshadowed what matters most – people coming together, sharing traditions and enjoying the vibrant folk culture,” they said.
