A nightmare. So Michelle Hunziker describes what she is Gerry Scotti they are living in the last few hours. Since when, a “Strip the News”, by launching a report on the Rai headquarters in Beijing, they made almond-shaped eyes and said a few words by pronouncing the “elle” instead of the “r”. An international storm was born, especially after the very popular Diet Prada account relaunched the story. Yesterday, in the episode, they remembered as always “Strip” is away from any form of racism. But the sorrow remains: «We are deeply saddened. We were in total good faith: we are very sorry to know that we have offended someone’s sensitivity. But what is happening is frightening: we have received a real wave of hatred that is being sown in an instrumental way ».
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A step at a time. Where do we start from?
H: «From the apologies. I also posted them on social networks and I certainly don’t want to go back on them. Even if you are in good faith, if you realize you are hurting someone, you are very sorry and the first thing to do is to apologize, unreservedly. Being accused of racism hurts me terribly ».
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S: «I also apologize: if I have unintentionally offended someone, it makes me reflect. But that in a humanly difficult moment like this one can produce so much hatred, it leaves me stunned. And I’m neither naive nor a kid. But the amount of violence that can even be conveyed in these contexts appalles me ».
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Didn’t you imagine such a reaction?
H: «For 25 years I have been fighting and fighting against all forms of discrimination. I created a foundation that I try to nurture every day with great commitment and I have always communicated the importance of inclusiveness. Then something like this happens and not only everything seems to have been canceled, but for hours I have been receiving death threats, messages in which they say they want to burn the shops of my husband Tomaso (Trussardi, ed.) Called into question for no reason. They say to boycott it, they write to us that we, our daughters, must die, that our house must be set on fire. It’s like living a nightmare. All this hatred, then, what does it lead to? To really fight for the human rights of all? Is it preparatory? ».
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S: «I am quite used to the good and the bad of life, but such a thing had never happened to me. Any form not only of racism but of discrimination is far from me and my work testifies to this. To be accused of this for such a thing leaves me stunned. ‘
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You talked about conveyed hatred. What do you mean?
H: «When things like this start, you now have the tools to investigate and we know that there are specialized groups that want to sow hatred and exploit certain issues to gain visibility. This fact must be very clear, also because it happens every day, regardless of the topic: the important thing is to instill hatred. This hurts me doubly. Among other things, these messages almost never came from people who belong to the Chinese community, but from people who hurl themselves to get more likes, riding the hashtag of the moment. And so we’re here to talk about the almond-shaped eyes made by me and Gerry when unspeakable things happen in China, which we should focus on, if we really talk about human rights ».
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S: «I have several Chinese friends and none of them told me anything about the gag. Even if you can’t even call it that, it was only a few moments of transmission. If I have offended then I was wrong, but I too would like to say not to be exploited by those who sow hatred. And also to be attentive to the obligation of politically correct that is affecting all communication: it scares me, it sounds a lot like dictatorship, fascism ».
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It is also true that the sensibilities have changed. Really, while you were making your almond-shaped eyes, there was no doubt that this gesture could hurt someone?
H: «A second after we did it, we looked at Gerry and said: haven’t we touched any sensibilities? The answer was: but nooo, it was clear that it was just a game, a totally innocent thing. The good faith was total. I’ll say more: I – and my daughter Aurora even more – have this almond-shaped eye stretch. My mom tells us that it comes from the family, right in our DNA because we had an Asian great-grandfather. My daughter has been bullied since she was very small for it, let alone if I would have thought that doing that could be a racist offense. It is surreal. I thought it was a game, a caricature, like when I imitate the Sicilian of our correspondent Stefania Petix. I myself then do the caricature of Switzerland. No one has ever felt offended. I believe that the beauty of the world is in its colors, even if the politically correct prefers the monochrome ».
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Recently there has been some discussion for the N-word. Even in that case there are those who do not consider it offensive.
H: «Instead that is, there is no doubt. Saying that word is an offense and it hurts my nervous system. It is quite another thing to believe that you are playing with a feature. I don’t know how many Chinese people got hit in the nervous system by my almond-shaped eyes. But we were still wrong. But being accused of being a racist hurts me deeply. I have always sided with the Chinese, who in this period are at the center of very serious episodes of racism. And then I am a woman: I have experienced discrimination on my skin. I know what it means to commit myself more than men every day to assert myself as men. Plus I’m blonde, and therefore stupid, goose, in my case also hyena ridens. But I know there is a difference between offense and irony. So it makes me angry that someone can shine by sowing hatred and through denigrating decent people. We are living in a new Middle Ages and the witch hunt is perpetrated every day by faceless and nameless people. Certainly not without sin ».
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S: «For more than twenty years I have been described as the presenter with a belly, chubby or even obese and bald. I repeat, really our total good faith had us a little darkened with respect to the effects that we could arouse. We apologized. Now we hope they can listen to our arguments too ».
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April 15, 2021 (change April 15, 2021 | 08:14)
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