The debate on the limits of humor does not stop registering new chapters. On this occasion, the controversy has erupted after the TV3 program ‘Està Passant’, characterized by making satires and controversial parodies, was taken down last week with an imitation of the Virgen del Rocío. In it, an actress simulated the Virgin herself and, with a forced Andalusian accent, even joked about the sexual life of her own figure. “I haven’t been able to get laid properly for 200 years!” She said at one point in the ‘sketch’.
A parody that has generated an important stir in networks and also in the political sphere, with the president of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, insistently calling on Catalan television to apologize for this parody that he considers “an insult” towards the Andalusians.
«On TV3 they are always very given to making jokes about the Andalusians, the Andalusian accent and the Andalusian way of being. Look, we are already a little fed up with this type of thing”, the Andalusian president asserted this Monday in statements to the press moments before the celebration of the National Board of Directors of the PP in Madrid.
Moreno has described the TV3 parody as “inopportune and completely out of place”, emphasizing that the Andalusians are a people with a wide sense of humor and that the citizens of Andalusia themselves ironize about themselves, although “with affection and respect”.
“The Virgen del Rocío is a highly revered virgin, not only by many Andalusians and Spaniards, but is also part of a culture, a tradition and values that Andalusia has”, added the also president of the Andalusian PP, confessing that for he the images “didn’t have any grace.” In this sense, he has criticized the fact that this type of content is made from public television paid for by taxpayers, a fact that he has considered “an insult.” For this reason, he has urged those responsible for the Catalan chain to recognize that “they have screwed up.”
The president of the Junta de Andalucía has announced that its Executive, through RTVA and the Federation of Autonomous Radio and Television Organizations (Forta), will file a complaint so that TV3 makes a rectification, apologizes and “be a little more refined with the humor”. “It does not occur to us to make parodies of any people, any accent, any tradition or any revered image,” he has settled.
The presenter will not apologize
Although it has been the popular groups and Vox that have mainly raised their voices against parody (the Catalan PP has announced that it will take the matter to Parliament), the Christian Lawyers organization has already advanced that it plans to denounce Catalan television, and other responsible Politicians such as the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, or the spokeswoman for Adelante Andalucía, Teresa Rodríguez, have also been critical of imitation.
Marlaska has called for respect and consideration after the TV3 satire, while Rodríguez denounced the “badness, ignorance and Andalusian phobia” that said parody gave off.
Who does not seem willing to apologize for this imitation of the Virgen del Rocío is the presenter of ‘Està Passant’ Toni Soler. “You can wait sitting down,” Soler snapped at Juanma Moreno on Twitter, implying that he has no intention of apologizing. Regional television, meanwhile, continues without expressing itself on the parody.