At Mayak they apologized for mocking terminally ill children: “Let’s just say, comrades, the tone was inappropriate.” Scandal at Mayak: My girl died so painfully, and they are mocking me live! Scandal of insulting cystic fibrosis patients

Published 10/22/12 08:02

Media: Mayak radio hosts started trolling seriously ill people. After the scandal broke, the program was closed and the radio presenters were fired.

Residents of ten regions of the country demanded a public apology from the hosts of the morning show on Mayak radio after a live talk about a fatal disease turned into real “trolling,” reports Elephant.

The incident in question occurred on October 4 on the air of “Program P”, in the “Sores” section. In this section, the presenters are Victoria Kolosova and Alexey Veselkin, as well as their colleague at the controls and a doctor named David, invited as an expert, in a mocking manner idhumkz discussed a serious genetic disease - cystic fibrosis, and during the discussion the presenters aggressively joked about the patients.

Here are just some excerpts from this “conversation” with the doctor.

Doctor: We'll talk about cystic fibrosis...

"Disabled": I would like to add - “complete”!

Kolosova: Complete cystic fibrosis! (laugh in unison).

Doctor: The secretion of these glands thickens in the patient’s lungs...

Veselkin: Yes, the secret is thickening! I had this this morning...

"Disabled person". There’s no need to be ashamed of this, Alexey, it’s wonderful!

Veselkin: This is rock and roll...

Doctor: In everyday life they are called “salty children”... Chlorine metabolism is disrupted, and salt appears on the skin...

Kolosova: Do they smell? I. It’s good to drink tequila with them!.. Well, maestro! Bitch!

Veselkin: Do the monkeys get sick?.. We just think that they are looking for fleas, but they are looking for salt crystals! They don’t know what they can buy in the store!.. Imagine: “Volodya, come here, Uncle Vasya and I should drink tequila, let me kiss you!”

Doctor: Cystic fibrosis is not contagious, they are fully socialized.

"Disabled Person": Well, just a little salty!

***

Doctor: Well, let’s talk about the clinic then... How can the mother of a newborn determine...

Colosa: Yes, what if I have it?

Doctor: No, you don't.

“Disabled”: Vika, they don’t live that long!

Doctor: ...Due to a deficiency of one of the enzymes - trypsin...

Kolosova: Three dogs? Three dogs, that means...

Veselkin: Three dogs, three cheerful friends... (sings)

Doctor: ...which is involved in digestion, feces of a newborn, they call it sameconium...

Veselkin: Oh, Lord... (the word “meconium” causes him to burst into a fit of Homeric laughter).

Public figures have already expressed outrage at what happened, and deputies of the United Russia party sent a request to law enforcement agencies, demanding an analysis of the situation, LifeNews reports. Representatives of the Cystic Fibrosis Society sent a corresponding request to Roskomnadzor and are now preparing a statement of claim to the court.

“The discussion of the disease, treatment, and physiology of people with cystic fibrosis was conducted at Mayak in violation of universal laws of ethics, in an offensive manner. We believe that ridiculing in the style of “black humor” the life of patients who are forced to fight every day for its quality and duration is an outrage against every patient and his family. From the lips of a person called a doctor on air, unverified facts about the disease and incorrect information about the situation of patients were heard, which misled radio listeners.”, - said Oksana Prikhodko, deputy chairman of the public organization “Help for Patients with Cystic Fibrosis”.

The program director of the Mayak radio station, Anatoly Kuzichev, has already recognized the behavior of the presenters who laughed at patients with cystic fibrosis on air as erroneous, reports Ekho Moskvy. He offered his most sincere apologies to the radio station’s listeners for the inappropriate behavior and offensive statements of the program’s presenters.

As Anatoly Kuzichev emphasized, the hosts’ comments made during the story about cystic fibrosis are completely unacceptable and categorically contradict the station’s editorial policy.

“The program in which inappropriate statements were made has been closed,” said the program director of Mayak radio.

In addition, according to Kuzichev, the presenters of the Mayak radio station, Victoria Kolosova and Alexey Veselkin, who spoke incorrectly about patients with cystic fibrosis in the program “Sores,” have been fired.

“The radio company has terminated its employment relationship with these presenters. At the same time, the format of the morning broadcast will be revised,” the director’s words are quoted on the Mayak website.

Later, the program hosts also apologized to listeners whose feelings were hurt by their comments.

“The tone is inappropriate, the form is inappropriate. We very much apologize to all those who were harmed by that program. We understand this very well. I know clearly that now not all people have woken up and would like to hear our apologies, so we will definitely apologize to all of you on the air today,” Interfax quotes Victoria Kolosova.

Cystic fibrosis is a chronic genetic disease characterized by damage to internal organs, mainly the lungs, with which about one hundred thousand people live in the world. In the Russian Federation, the average life expectancy of patients is 25 years; the country lacks many medicines and methods for curing the disease. When diagnosed in advanced stages or untreated, the mortality rate for cystic fibrosis exceeds 50 percent. Currently, cystic fibrosis is incurable.

The radio station "Mayak" was forced to close the "Sores" section, in which serious illnesses were discussed in a popular form, and fire its presenters - Victoria Kolosova and Alexei Veselkin - due to a scandal involving insults to patients with cystic fibrosis. The release of the program, during which the presenters openly laughed at a serious hereditary disease, caused a flurry of criticism against the radio station. Roskomnadzor, which found violations of the media law in the behavior of the presenters, took the opportunity to speed up the adoption of a code of professional ethics for journalists.

The scandalous episode of the program “Sores,” which is part of a large morning show on Mayak, “Program P,” aired on October 4, but attracted widespread public attention only a couple of weeks later. “Program P” started at Mayak in February of this year, replacing the popular morning show “Sergei Stillavin and his friends.” The new morning show borrowed from the previous one both the composition of the presenters - Sergei Stillavin himself, Alexey Veselkin, Victoria Kolosova, Rustam Vakhidov and sound engineer Vladislav Viktorov (Vitus), as well as some sections, including “Sores”.

Alexey Veselkin during the broadcast of “Bolyachek” about cystic fibrosis. YouTube video screenshot

The popularity of the radio section “Sores,” which discusses serious illnesses and ways to combat them, can be judged by the fact that entire audiobooks have been compiled from its episodes. As the description of one of the books says, in this section the presenters and a certain Dr. David “with their unique humor talk about, in general, serious diseases and methods of treating them.” The idea, apparently, is explained by the format of morning radio shows, in which the presenters try not to burden the still sleepy listener with too serious presentation of the material.

However, in the episode about cystic fibrosis, which provoked a scandal around the program, the presenters (Stillavin and Vakhidov were not present on this broadcast) clearly went too far with “frivolity.” Cystic fibrosis is an incurable hereditary disease that causes excessive mucus accumulation in the lungs and gastrointestinal tract. With late diagnosis of the disease or lack of treatment, death, and extremely painful, occurs in more than half of the cases - due to the abundance of mucus, patients simply cannot breathe and digest food normally. But if in the West medicine has been successfully coping with the symptoms of the disease for quite a long time and people with cystic fibrosis live there on average for about 50 years, then in Russia only 12 percent of children with cystic fibrosis live to 15 years without the necessary treatment (in the West this figure reaches more than 40 percent). Due to the cost of treatment, cystic fibrosis foundations and their families are constantly fighting to attract government attention and receive financial support.

It is not surprising, therefore, that public organizations and parents of sick children were extremely indignant on the air, in which the presenters made faces, putting dryers in their mouths and pretending to have fangs, and made jokes about how “it’s good to drink tequila” with sick children (due to metabolic disorders salt appears on the skin of patients with cystic fibrosis), or they laughed like kindergarteners at the word “meconium” (feces of a newborn). The scandal began to gain momentum on social networks: bloggers accused the presenters of being “beyond the bounds of human compassion” and invited them to communicate with parents who had seen their children die. The “Bolyachek” team also remembered how at one time he condemned punk prayer of the girls from Pussy Riot, who were criticized by the presenters for disrespecting the feelings of other people.

Then the media picked up the topic - two weeks after the broadcast, on October 18, the LifeNews portal posted a video fragment of the program (its full version by that time was already deleted from all official resources) and stated that public organizations, in particular the fund “Help for Patients with Cystic Fibrosis,” sent a complaint to Roskomnadzor against the presenters of “Bolyachek” and demanded an apology from the radio station. The story was picked up by other publications, which did not fail to contribute to the lynching of Mayak - by Friday, October 19, the Internet was seething with indignant reviews. Slon spoke somewhat more restrainedly, noting that people in Russia traditionally do not want to know anything about other people’s problems and “a significant part of the audience will not listen to journalists raising unpleasant issues, unless they are provided with the crutches of psychological protection - for example, in the form of laughter and cynicism.” . Journalist Ilya Kolmanovsky, in a column in "Big City", summed up all the remarks, suggesting that critics of "Mayak", instead of putting links to videos from LifeNews, distribute the details of payment organizations that help patients with cystic fibrosis.

The scandal raised by bloggers and the media finally forced the management of Mayak to react. The first to apologize on behalf of the radio station was its program director Anatoly Kuzichev. In an interview with Echo of Moscow, he admitted the behavior and tone of the presenters was erroneous, but noted that Mayak thereby helped draw attention to the disease. The blogosphere reacted to such a cynical apology with a new stream of angry comments - Kuzichev, in a comment to Lente.ru, stated that the media had distorted his words. “I am accused of cynicism, which is not inherent to me, especially on such occasions,” explained the Mayak program director. “What I meant: paradoxically - and this was the key phrase in my statement - this is inappropriate, unacceptable for us , catastrophic from the point of view of taste, tact, and common sense, the performance of our presenters in the morning show forced us to seriously address the problem [of cystic fibrosis], and the country to hear the word that most of the people did not know before."

Anatoly Kuzichev. Photo from the official website of "Vesti FM"

On Sunday evening, Kuzichev on Mayak already announced the closure of the “Sores” section and the reformatting of the entire morning broadcast. The next morning, the presenters also apologized - they explained their belated reaction by the fact that Victoria Kolosova, ironically, was “sick” and the journalists could not gather in the same composition in which they conducted their scandalous broadcast. The apologies of Kolosova and Veselkin again backfired on Mayak, since all the media literally quoted them in the form in which they appeared on the radio station’s website: “The tone is inappropriate, the form is inappropriate. We very much apologize to all those who were brought suffering by that program.” As it turned out, it was not the presenters themselves who should be blamed for the illiteracy and dryness of the commentary, but the editors of the Mayak website: Kolosova and Veselkin expressed themselves correctly and in detail on the air, explaining their action by the loss of a sense of reality in attempts to please the listener and entertain him.

Nevertheless, inappropriate jokes and the public’s furious reaction to them cost Kolosova and Veselkin a place on “Mayak” - on the afternoon of October 22, the management of the radio station announced the termination of cooperation with the presenters. In addition, in an attempt to smooth out the conflict, the management of Mayak decided to donate an amount equal to the monthly salary of all participants in the scandalous broadcast and the daily salary of all other employees of the radio station to the fund for helping patients with cystic fibrosis. On Monday afternoon, Mayak also held a special “Hotline”, during which the situation with the dismissal of presenters was discussed, and Anatoly Kuzichev said that the radio station plans to conduct several more serious and large broadcasts dedicated to the problems of patients with cystic fibrosis. As for Sergei Stillavin, according to Kuzichev, the radio station hopes to retain him as a presenter, but he, as the author of the entire morning show, must bear “at least formal responsibility” for what happened.

The reaction of society to tough measures against journalists who made jokes at the wrong time turned out to be, as always, polar: some repeat Vladimir Putin’s new expression, which has already become an idiom, and propose to “slap a two-piece” on those who are guilty, others call the closure of the program and the dismissal of the presenters because of the sick people who feed "pharmaceutical companies with their slogans" is unfair.

Roskomnadzor also responded to the scandal, finding in the statements of Mayak presenters violations of the media law, which obliges journalists to respect the rights, honor and dignity of citizens when carrying out their professional activities. The department sent a corresponding warning to the leadership of Mayak and noted that the incident “confirms the need for the speedy emergence of a valid and respected “code of professional ethics” in the Russian journalistic community.”

Pavel Gusev, head of the Public Chamber’s media committee and editor-in-chief of Moskovsky Komsomolets, came up with the same idea last week. He proposed self-regulation of the industry as an alternative to constantly tightening legislation, noting that “we will soon have laws for every sneeze - what is possible and what is not.” Considering the frequency of such scandals in the media - this year both the liberal and federal channels Rossiya-1 were noted for making offensive remarks against people with disabilities - the adoption of such a charter could really benefit the journalistic community. One can only hope that it will truly be used as a means for self-control of the press in matters of ethics, and not as another repressive instrument on the part of the state.

Veselkin and Kolosova about their dismissal

Alexey Veselkin about his dismissal spoke in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper. The presenter said that radio has always been secondary to him since he is an actor. Now Veselkin works at the Russian Academic Youth Theater. Veselkin plans to release a play. According to him, he did not become any worse after the broadcast about cystic fibrosis. “I didn’t betray anyone. I worked in the morning show format as I should have,” said the former presenter.

Victoria Kolosova- This is the only person whom Veselkin feels sorry for in this situation. “When she wakes up tomorrow, it will be very difficult for her,” says Veselkin, noting that his colleague needs support. He says that Kolosova has no immunity from this. According to the ex-presenter, there is no one to blame for the situation. “I wasn’t trying to offend anyone,” the actor said.

Radio Mayak fired presenters who laughed at sick children

Dismissal of Mayak presenters I haven’t commented yet. There are no messages about her removal from the air on her Facebook page. Previously, the presenter apologized to everyone who might have been offended by her words spoken during a discussion of the fatal disease cystic fibrosis.

Kolosova on air at Mayak on the morning of October 22, she stated that all apologies were “sincere” because the presenters did not want to offend or offend anyone. “It really hurts and upsets me that we, quite old, educated people, allowed ourselves to do this,” the presenter said in her latest morning show on Mayak. Now the radio management is deciding what disciplinary measures to take against the presenter.

Stillavin on the dismissal of Kolosova and Veselkin

Sergey Stillavin, presenter“Programs P”, which published the “Sores” section, commented on the dismissal of Veselkin and Kolosova in his “Live Journal”. The morning show writer said the hosts' behavior was "unacceptable." Stillavin does not understand why “parents and people more than adults” behaved this way. The presenter is confident that the very topic of cystic fibrosis, raised on air, should turn into concrete help.

Dismissal of Veselkin and Kolosova happened without Stillavin. The author of Program P, just like on October 4, when the scandalous issue of Sores was released, is on a business trip. The management of Mayak has already stated that it does not blame the author of the morning program for the behavior of his colleagues. However, the director of Mayak’s programs, Anatoly Kuzichev, previously announced that the format of the morning show would be closed, and “Bolyachki” would be closed. Instead of a program about diseases, another one will appear, but what name it will have and who will host it is still unknown.

Mayak presenters fired

Dismissal of Mayak radio presenters led to the decision to transfer the salaries of all radio station employees to accounts for children with cystic fibrosis. However, not all plant employees agree with the management’s decision to transfer salaries to the sick. “What are we to blame for? Why is everyone paying for the fact that someone doesn’t know how to broadcast?” - one of the employees is indignant. Her colleague remarks that it is “unfair” to punish everyone. So far, the management of the radio company has not commented on these statements.

After the Mayak presenters were fired, the radio station decided to conduct an internal investigation and find out why Alexey Veselkin and Victoria Kolosova became so disgraced. The investigation showed that the cause of the scandal was the absence of the main presenters of Program P, Sergei Stillavin and Rustam Vakhidov. The latter has a medical education, and his knowledge in the field of diseases is quite broad. Izvestia’s source says that it was Vakhidov’s absence that led to the dire situation.

What Kolosova and Veselkin said about cystic fibrosis

Morning show on "Mayak" October 4, 2012. Veselkin, Kolosova, DJ “Invalid” and a visiting doctor discussed the fatal disease cystic fibrosis. During the discussion, several offensive remarks were made. So, when the doctor began to say that vitamin A is not absorbed by patients, DJ “Invalid” said that “the patient did not absorb it.”

When the doctor started talking about the symptoms of cystic fibrosis, in particular, he noticed that patients have salt on their skin, Victoria Kolosova asked “Do they smell.” In addition, the presenters often laughed while discussing the topic and allowed themselves to make impartial statements such as “lint in the ass.” The video that appeared after the broadcast shows that Victoria Kolosova puts either rings or dryers in her mouth, and sits like this during the discussion.

Radio hosts mocked terminally ill children

Cynicism, sarcasm and pointed disregard for universal human values are in fashion today. DJs of the Mayak radio station, in order to entertain the public bored in traffic jams, came up with a funny morning program “Sores”, where they satirically talked about the ailments that exist in the world and the symptoms that accompany them. The program ran for several years and was a success with listeners due to its humorous presentation of facts from medicine. But this time, terminally ill children became the object of the DJs' ridicule.

The scandal with the abuse of down-children did not have time to die down Maria Aronova on the TV show “I Love You.” I can’t” (), as dozens of people from all over the country again demand a public apology, now from the journalists of the Mayak radio station, and are preparing a class action lawsuit demanding that some presenters be held accountable.

As part of the morning show “Program P” on “Mayak” on October 4, the program “Sores” was broadcast, the topic of which was cystic fibrosis. This is a genetic congenital disease in which all the mucus in the body becomes too viscous, which is why without medication the patient cannot digest food normally, and most importantly, breathe. In the end, a person dies horribly, painfully from suffocation, often before he even reaches adulthood. All these facts by the presenter of the program Sergei Stillavin did not seem serious, and they had a lot of fun discussing the specific symptoms of cystic fibrosis.

“It’s good to drink tequila with them!”

The broadcast was accompanied by a parallel video broadcast on the Internet. In the studio, in addition to the presenters Victoria Kolosova, Alexey Veselkin and a colleague invisible to the viewer at the control panel, whom they called “comrade disabled person,” was an invited guest - Doctor David. The presenters ridiculed literally every word the doctor said, ultimately putting the doctor in a frivolous mood. The broadcast began with a quote from the famous film “Heart of a Dog”: “Doctor, this is such a tragedy... help! - Take off your pants!

The secretion of these glands thickens in the patient’s lungs,” says the doctor.

Yes, the secret is thickening! “I had this this morning,” Veselkin interrupts him.

There’s no need to be ashamed of this, Alexey, it’s wonderful! – David tries to continue, it is unclear what exactly he means.

This is rock and roll! – retorts Veselkin.

Previously, this disease was considered only from the point of view of problems of the digestive system. Then it was assumed that disorders of the bronchopulmonary system occur as a result of non-absorbed vitamin “A”... - the doctor tries to continue

At this moment, Kolosova makes “tusks” out of the steering wheels standing in front of her and begins to make faces at her colleagues. The level of fun in the studio increases even more: the DJs laugh out loud.

1,600 people are registered in Russia... In 2006, a national screening program was introduced, and in infancy, cystic fibrosis began to be determined by a blood test from the heel... - the doctor continues.

What if you were born before 2006? - Kolosov asks through his steering wheels.

Well, you can’t puncture there anymore, the heel is like concrete! You need to drill there already! – Veselkin responds, “Or no, you have to go to the bathhouse to get to the heel...

In everyday life they are called “salty children”... The exchange of chlorine is disrupted, and salt appears on the skin... - the doctor continues.

Do they smell? I. It’s good to drink tequila with them! - Kolosova laughs. - Well, maestro! Bitch!

Do monkeys get sick? – meets Veselkin. - We just think that they are looking for fleas, but they are looking for salt crystals! They don’t know what they can buy in the store!.. Imagine: “Volodya, come here, Uncle Vasya and I should drink tequila, let me kiss you!”

They die early. A child can live to adulthood, but this is if the disease is not advanced... Previously, they did not live to see 14. And now, in Europe there are those who are over 60! - says the doctor. However, the theme of death does not bother the frolicking DJs at all.

Salty too? – Veselkin is interested.

Maybe salty ones... Cystic fibrosis is not contagious, they are fully socialized, says the doctor. - They grow up to be wonderful musicians and artists...

Dancers? – Veselkin is interested again. And, having received the answer “no,” he asks, “Why?” Are they too salty? Can't sweat?

Then the “show” continued in the same spirit for about half an hour. At the same time, the video recording of the broadcast clearly shows how the presenters grimace and make sarcastic comments when discussing a fatal disease. It is noteworthy that at first the doctor tried to remain serious, but soon he also fell for the humorous tone of the journalists and, together with them, continued to laugh at the disease, which kills hundreds of children every year.

“They live as if in a gas mask, in a constant lack of oxygen,” a doctor talks about the suffering of cystic fibrosis patients. The presenters, however, ignore this. According to them, they are only interested in darkness, the Middle Ages, graves, cemeteries.

“Mothers have been suffering for years, fighting for the lives of their children”...

After the release of the scandalous program, residents of ten regions of the country demanded a public apology from the management of the radio station, the presenters and the guest of the program. The interregional public organization "Help for Patients with Cystic Fibrosis" has already sent a letter to Roskomnadzor, the Union of Journalists of Russia and is currently preparing a statement of claim to the court. They are also supported by the Russian Center for Cystic Fibrosis on the basis of the N.F. Children's Hospital. Filatova.

On Internet forums, there is also no limit to public outrage:

“My girl was dying so painfully, and they are mocking me on live TV!” – writes the grief-stricken mother. “The presenters made fun of the patients. Mothers have been suffering for years, fighting for the lives of their children, and “black humor” is not appropriate here,” another echoes her.

Meanwhile, the management of the Mayak radio station waited more than two weeks for an official reaction, perhaps hoping that the matter could be hushed up without unnecessary noise. October 21 Program Director Anatoly Kuzichev still spoke out about the incident. He stressed that the presenters' comments are completely unacceptable and categorically contradict the station's editorial policy.

The program in which inappropriate statements were made was closed, said the program director of Mayak radio.

“Well, let’s just say, comrades, our tone was inappropriate!”

Today the presenters themselves apologized. During the morning broadcast of “Program P,” DJs Kolosova and Veselkin said:

Well, let's just say, comrades, our tone was inappropriate. The tone is inappropriate, the form is inappropriate. We very much apologize to all those who were harmed by that program... Our apologies are sincere, and we really did not want to offend or offend anyone. And it really hurts and offends me that we, quite old, educated people, allowed ourselves to do this.

By the way, the TV presenter did the same thing Maria Aronova, which recently became involved in a similar scandal involving insults to disabled children. Recall that the actress Evelina Bledans and other parents of children with Down syndrome decided to file a lawsuit for the protection of honor and dignity against Maria Aronova, on the air of the program “Love. I can’t”, which called such children potential murderers. In response, the TV presenter sincerely apologized for hurting the feelings of the unfortunate patients and their parents.

I spoke about the problems of a particular child and in no way wanted to offend other parents raising “sunny children,” Izvestia quotes Aronova. - I sincerely admire Evelina Bledans and other parents who accomplish feats every day. I’m ready to fall on my knees in front of them and beg for their forgiveness on the next broadcast.

As Aronova says, if the channel’s management does not provide her with such an opportunity, she is ready to leave her job.

Veselkin and Kolosova about their dismissal

Radio Mayak fired presenters who laughed at sick children

Dismissal of Mayak presenters Victoria Kolosova has not yet commented. There are no messages about her removal from the air on her Facebook page. Previously, the presenter apologized to everyone who might have been offended by her words spoken during a discussion of the fatal disease cystic fibrosis.

Stillavin on the dismissal of Kolosova and Veselkin

Dismissal of Veselkin and Kolosova happened without Stillavin. The author of Program P, just like on October 4, when the scandalous issue of Sores was released, is on a business trip. The management of Mayak has already stated that it does not blame the author of the morning program for the behavior of his colleagues. However, the director of Mayak’s programs, Anatoly Kuzichev, previously announced that the format of the morning show would be changed, and “Bolyachki” would be closed. Instead of a program about diseases, another one will appear, but what name it will have and who will host it is still unknown.

Mayak presenters fired

What Kolosova and Veselkin said about cystic fibrosis

Morning show on "Mayak" released October 4, 2012. Veselkin, Kolosova, DJ “Invalid” and a visiting doctor discussed the fatal disease cystic fibrosis. During the discussion, several offensive remarks were made. So, when the doctor began to say that vitamin A is not absorbed by patients, DJ “Invalid” said that “the patient did not absorb it.”