Fortune’s fool
Have you heard the most recent update on the Franco Zeffirelli outburst earlier this week at the Rome Opera? In describing the apocryphal production of Traviata at Hamburg or wherever it was supposed to be (the one with the bidet, remember?) the legendary Romeo and Juliet director also said he saw upon the stage “”transessuali e froci.”
“Froci,” as perhaps you know, means “fags.” This last slur was not reported in the Corriere della Sera.
An audio document of the fateful Q&A.
Ciel, quelle langage!
Who was that woman? For second I thought it was Helen Thomas, but then things really got out of control. It sounded like a geriatric hot dog fight at Costco.
Can anyone clarify what is said after the question: “Who are you? Press?” “Yes, PRESS” then something that sounds like “Dradi”. Could that be a reference to the controversial artists’ manager/producer Mario Dradi or have I completely misundestood?
Well, she did provoke him, it’s true, but on the other hand he clearly pissed her off politically, and then he hardly kept his meet the press face on.
Only in Italia….
I’m not gay, but my boyfriend, Franco, is.
Nothing worse than self-hate is there? Sad sad old man!
Self-hate seems directed at the correct target here, no?
To clear a few things:
Quanto painy fakor: After he asks “Press?” She says, “Yes, press”, and then she adds she is from gothicnetwork.com, a site that played an important role in the demonstration against Berlusconi that took place in Rome last week (one million, she says, of people).
To il pene del mio cor: she did not provoke him. Zeffirelli was the first one who drag politics into this press conference, joking in very poor taste about Piero Marrazzo, who was the governor or Lazio, belonging to the PD (Partito Democratico, and therefore an opponent of Berlusconi), and who had to resign because of his patronizing Brazilian transgender prostitutes. At this point Livia Bidoli says: “Berlusconi as well. Let’s not say things like these, please. Let’s not drag politics into this. Berlusconi has a brothel in his own house. One is not better than the other, clear?”. (I am sure everyone knows that over the summer Berlusconi has been in the news for his own patronizing (female) prostitutes and even for “coohorting with minors”, as his own wife accused him).
At this point, Zeffirelli explodes. But he was not provoked. He was the first one to mention Marrazzo. On the contrary, one could say Bidoli was provoked.
Manou: why the correct target? The journalist was clearly upset that Zeffirelli tried to denigrate a political opponent during a press conference supposedly devoted to opera. Marrazzo had nothing to do with this press conference.
Ercole – self-hate = Franco hating himself, ergo the correct target.
Oh, now I get it…a bit too late
Con dodici lavori da fare, si capisce che siete molto impegnato…
Dear E Farnese, your clarifications are much appreciated. But what is the word that sounds like “Dradi?” I can’t make it make it out no matter how many times I play it.
She says: “We are those from last Saturday’s demonstration”, and he sarcastically says” Bravi!”, at which she replies “Bravi, sì, one million”..
The word you hear is Bravi, not Dradi.
Thanks so much. It’s all so ugly.
Ercole, your summary pretty much coincides with what I was trying to say: Zeffo makes an offhanded remark in poor (political) taste, the reporter takes exception to it and challenges/lectures him on it by bringing up Berlusconi’s peccadillos, he blows up, chaos ensues. By “provoke” I only meant that in this country reporters normally don’t react this way in press conferences. Maybe it’s different in Italy. But the Italian comments on youtube suggest that this was atypical behavior there as well. Don’t get me wrong, I think she was right to take him to task for it. It just seems unusual for a reporter to be doing that in a press conference.
Cieca, cara, lovely photo to start the day with.
Is this by any chance a still from Frengo’s R&J film?
That would fit in so well with the way you so creatively
accessorize your threads.
You have to ask? That image burned itself into my brain in High School.
Perhaps Zeferelli’s next project is ‘Tea with Belusconi’ …no?
It is so very sad to reach our dodge amd not be able to accept ourselves. I truly feel very sad for Franco. YES, I am old, queer and proud!
Maybe the treacherous old cow is so demented it forgets every 5 minutes ……
His Traviata ‘with cows’…..now we all know what the metaphor represented!!!!