Romani celebrity expresses support for anti-system Czech political candidate in elections to the European Parliament
A photograph posted to Facebook of Romani celebrity Zdeněk Godla appearing to pose as a candidate for the anti-system Právo Respekt Odbornost (PRO) [Law Respect Expertise] party of the controversial politician Jindřich Rajchl in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament has caused outrage. Godla is not actually running as a candidate for PRO, but is expressing his support for the party as one of several "famous" figures in their campaign.
“Is Mr. Godla a member of PRO?” one Facebook user asked under the post presenting the PRO candidates for the EP. “That’s weird, Mr. Godla, isn’t this a mistake?” asked another.
“Why is Godla there? He’s just a debtor who refuses to pay his bills,” posted another fan of Rajchl.
After several indignant posts by PRO fans were posted, the photo was suddenly removed from Facebook along with some of the comments. “This is more about his character than his appearance. I see Godla’s photo is now missing, along with my comments about him. Instead of argument, there is deletion. That’s why I wouldn’t expect any change from PRO. More’s the pity!” a Facebook user posted after the photo was removed.
The administrators of the page then began copy-pasting their explanation beneath the annoyed queries. “Hello, that photo was posted by mistake, which is why it has been removed. It accidentally got into our candidate gallery of photos, Mr. Godla was in the makeup room just to get ready to film a greeting as part of our media support from famous figures. We thank you for your understanding. Such things can happen from time to time. Have a nice day, the PRO Team,” the explanation read.
This is not the first time that Godla has gotten involved with an anti-system or xenophobic party. At the beginning of 2022, he supported the fascist, xenophobic “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD) party of Tomio Okamura during a children’s day in Chomutov.
Godla subsequently distanced himself from the Okamura movement. He claimed to have fallen for “political games without thinking through the consequences”.
The PRO party is quite frequently labelled as anti-system and xenophobic. Czech Senator Jana Zwyrtek Hamplová, who openly called for the segregation of Romani children in education in March 2023 as part of a session of the Senate, closely collaborates with PRO, for example.
Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková objected to the senator’s remarks at the time, stating that they contravene all European values. PRO was meant to become the “dark horse” of the radical right, and for some extremists has become the alternative to the SPD.
The party, led by Rajchl, has managed to mobilize tens of thousands of people and bring them to the public square as protesters, but according to polls, just 2 % of the electorate plans to vote for them. Moreover, in recent days they have been facing a schism, as several dozen members led by Petra Rédová, a disinformation purveyor, have left the anti-system party.
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