"As a woman and a mother, I cannot remain silent when someone makes statements which relativise the suffering of those in vulnerable situations," government spokesperson Eszter Vitályos wrote in a social media post in response to the statement made by rock musician and prominent Fidesz supporter Feró Nagy when he was recently asked to comment on the events related to the former director of the Szőlő Street juvenile detention center. (The former director and his partner are suspected of human trafficking and forced labour – coercing two adult women who grew up in the care of the state into prostitution and into handing their earnings over to them.) Vitályos also leads the Digital Civic Circle for abused women.
Feró Nagy was the frontman of the legendary Hungarian band Beatrice, which was active in the seventies and eighties, and has in recent years become a vocal supporter of Viktor Orbán’s politics. This has earned him invitations to some Fidesz events which are closed to the public and he is usually seated in the first rows during Orbán’s most important speeches along with other celebrities who openly support the Fidesz-led government.
When being interviewed during the Peace March on 23 October, Nagy was asked for his opinion on the human trafficking accusations against the former director of a juvenile detention center and he responded by saying: “He was just making money with this, I mean, he was running girls. And the girls were making money too, so it was beneficial for everyone, right?”
According to Vitályos, Feró Nagy's "music and his oeuvre are an indisputable part of Hungarian culture," and he deserves respect, but Vitályos "distances himself from any such statements." As the government spokesperson added,
"words have more power than we realize – and there are many who may be repeatedly traumatized by these sentences".
The government spokesperson finally concluded that all forms of violence must be rejected, and then suddenly shifted to writing about others using a double standard, criticizing Péter Magyar, and “the other side” for not speaking up against domestic violence “when it is committed by someone in their circles”, and the threats and insults supposedly suffered by pro-government journalists.
When Telex reached out to Nagy to find out what he meant by his statement, he explained that nobody knows whether the girls were actually forced into prostitution or if they did it voluntarily. "We are not judging any woman if she has something valuable that she wants to share with others."
"I've done some research since then and spoke with someone who is an expert on these kinds of things, and I've learned a lot. But I'm still just making assumptions. Let me say it again: the guy was running the girls. We know that, right?" he told Index. "And obviously, he didn't do it for free. But then if I say it was about money, then people will be all, 'Oh, come on, what are you talking about, are you now going to call them whores?’ But this is a profession that's been around for thousands of years," he said.
A number of politicians reacted to Feró Nagy's statement shortly after he had made them, with Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony saying that the words of the Beatrice singer were outrageous and disheartening. Klára Dobrev of the Democratic Coalition said that anyone who speaks about victims in this way is not worthy of the Kossuth Award (a state honour Nagy has been decorated with) or of being held up as an example to anyone.
Four female politicians of the Tisza Party also wrote an open letter to Viktor Orbán and Eszter Vitályos in connection with the case. Ágnes Forsthoffer, the ice – president of the Tisza Party, Kriszta Bódis, the party's social policy expert, Andrea Bujdosó, the party's faction leader in the capital, and MEP Eszter Lakos expressed their concern because several male public figures who have in the past been linked to serious cases of verbal or other mistreatment of women have participated in or played a visible role in the Peace March on October 23 and the state ceremony in Kossuth Square.
In their letter they emphasize that Feró Nagy's statements regarding the Szőlő Street affair are in stark contrast with the government's communication about its commitment to protecting women. Allowing Nagy and the other men into this position sends a single message to Hungarian women: violence against women is no obstacle to entering the political arena, and in certain cases it may even result in being celebrated – they write, posing several questions, one of them being
Whether the Prime Minister and the Government Spokesperson plan to officially distance themselves from public figures with this kind of a past and from those who are now making these kinds of statements?
Eszer Vitályos was likely responding to this call, which was part of the letter they concluded by stating that the safety and dignity of women must never be used as a campaign tool or as a backdrop for any political or state event.
For more quick, accurate and impartial news from and about Hungary, subscribe to the Telex English newsletter!