Two Journalists Insult Christian Singer on Twitter, calling Christians "Disabled"
Hateful comments against the Christian singer Sima Magushinova and Christians in general on Twitter, arouse a wave of indignation among the Slovak political class. Many of them publicly defended Sime Martausová and criticized the attitude of the two journalists responsible for the offenses: Petr Tkačenek, commentator of the daily SME and Rada Ondřejíček, author of the Cynical Monster.
"She is a Christian. You shouldn't make fun of disabled people," Ondřejíček responded to Tkačenek's tweet. He further added, in another comment, that her work is "uncreative, drooling shit". After these comments, many politicians showed their support not only for the Christian singer but to Christians in general.
Another comment said: "The work she produces is superficial kitsch limited by her Christianity. She is such a Heger among female singers. But yes, any religious belief is a mental diagnosis from my point of view. Feel free to be offended.'' But despite the indignation among other people, Tkachenko saw no reason to apologize.
Among the tweets and Facebook comments defending Sima and her husband, as well as Christians, Veronika Remišová, Minister of Investment and chairwoman of the For People party, spoke up: "Public attacks on religious sentiment take us back to the totalitarian regime of communism (...) The statements of the national daily's contributors and authors on social media seem to be cut out of a manual of intolerance and extremism."
Sima Magushinova, the target of Tkachenko and Odrejicek, authors of the hate comments stating that she is "disabled" because she is a Christian, was also publicly supported by Labour Minister Milan Krajniak: "I don't think Sima Magushin's music needs to be defended. She has many fans who appreciate her, and no bartender can change that. However, I want to defend Simy Magušinová as a woman and as a Christian. At the same time, to apologize to her for the fact that there are such silly and shameful beasts among us men as Tkačenko and Ondřejíček," wrote the Minister on his Twitter account.
"The insult of a particular person or group of people because of their faith crossed the boundaries not only of freedom of speech and decency but also, as I firmly believe, of the legal order of the Slovak Republic," said Anna Záborská, a member of the Christian Union. "It is sad that these gentlemen shape many of their readers with their opinions and articles. Hate speech is not part of public debate and opinion-forming media".