01 July 2021, Thursday, 13:54 240

TV Presenter Accuses Culture Minister Tkachenko Of Racism

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

TV presenter Karolina Ashion accused the Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko of racism.

She wrote about this on Facebook, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Before appearing on the air of the Priamyi channel, I worked for 2+2. Once, upon learning about the casting of the presenters for the morning show, I asked the then general producer of 1+1 Media, Oleksandr Tkachenko: can I take participation. The answer was stunning: “Have you seen yourself in the mirror? The audience of our channel is not that ... I'm not ready to risk ratings ..." wrote the TV presenter.

According to the TV presenter, because of this, she quit the channel.

Ashion wrote that last weekend she met Tkachenko and his wife at a jazz festival in Lviv and recalled this situation to him, however, according to her, the minister did not apologize.

Later, Tkachenko responded to the TV presenter's accusations in a commentary on the post.

"Thank you for raising such questions and expressing your vision of the situation. It is better to return to them in order to remove the misunderstanding. It is not difficult for me to voice my position. I always looked and saw (and it still is) in front of me personality and professionalism, and not gender, orientation, skin color. We have been colleagues for years: you are the presenter of a successful 2+2 channel, and I am the director general of the holding that this channel is part of. You recall the period when you wanted to switch from 2+2 to 1+1. I will bring a little clarity. It was not my direct job to conduct castings of presenters. It's a shame that due to the fact that you did not get a position on another channel of the same holding - you got such an insulting impression. In my management teams in any company or organization - there has always been and is balance. I am for diversity, inclusiveness and vision in the difference in value, which should be multiplied," the minister replied.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in June 2020, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Oleksandr Tkachenko (Servant of the People), Member of Parliament, chairperson of the parliamentary committee on humanitarian and information policy, as Minister of Culture and Information Policy.