I return after five days of absence and find myself with the (very loud) scandal caused by the parody of the Virgen del Rocío in ‘Està passant’ (TV-3). It is usual that on Tuesdays, in this program, the actress judith martin star in a section called ‘The impromptu interview’ where he plays a random character out of four to choose from. She touched him La Blanca Paloma. In other words, looking for a controversy in the midst of Holy Week.
Indeed, they have achieved the controversy. It was the most watched afternoon program in Catalonia that day, after ‘Pasapalabra’. But above all they have managed to appear on the cover of national newspapers, something they had never achieved. That they have been the object of negative attention, that is, everyone lamenting the ‘sketch’, is the least of it. For years the important thing about the television seismograph is that it moves upwards, accompanied by a lot of noise. And the protests are considered a success, a blessing. From my point of view the ‘sketch’ has been disrespectful. That is, irreverence as the basis of humor. But there are many who consider that it has been hurtful and offensive. And they complain that humor always dares with Catholicism but never, for example, with the Muslim religion.
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In general, sarcasm about any religion is a guarantee of scandal, which is a television pillar of the first magnitude. This ‘sketch’ of ‘Està passant’, however, lacks the offensive depth that it achieved Albert Boadella (Joglars) in 1988 on TVE-1, in the program Javier Gurruchaga ‘Travel with us’. There he parodied three religions at the same time: Barça, pujol with pockets overflowing with bills, and La Moreneta who claimed to be the Cameroonian goalkeeper for Espanyol Thomas N’Kono. That was tremendous. The TVE switchboard collapsed. Some towns in Catalonia declared to Boadella already gurruchaga ‘persona non grata’. From the rest of Spain, not one. In other words, in the skin of a bull there is no vertebration of the wounds.
Little has been said about another recent ‘sketch’ of ‘Està passant’ -when they parodied the return of Clara Ponsati– Toni Soler received an angry public message from the rapper valtonyc telling him: «Come to Belgium to eat my eggs. You’ve gotten fat on public subsidies, wretch». This anger is explainable. The ‘procés’ was founded as a religion and also has its virgins.