About six years ago, I dared to point out the immense damage that Asi Ezer is doing carelessly, to our honor, to our community, to our young people and to our television.
The way I went then, when I gave the TV review the headline "Everyone hates Asi Ezer" due to disgust at his repulsive behavior on the broadcast, angered the popular presenter, who was quick to turn the spotlight out while accusing me of contributing to homophobia against him.
The rebellious title,
In a post shared with blind exemplary support by some of his famous friends, the presenter wrote: "Please forgive me for the whining, but a few minutes ago I went through the internet trying to search for items for the radio, for tomorrow's morning show. Then I saw that headline and it shocked me. Like a punch in the stomach. The ease with which someone writes a text so insulting and so offensive. What makes someone sit down and write such a headline? What is this personal assault? I killed someone? People here are losing proportions. Sorry, but some journalists and editors have become worse than violent talkbackers And by the way, taking advantage of the pride card - I'm waiting for the first talkbackist to write 'Asi Umu'. Because when the headline is 'Everyone hates Asi Ezer', then why not join the celebration. I hope you are too. "
Asi's response to the criticism,
The media commotion only allowed me to apologize in a special column a few days later, not without explaining my intentions and allegations of sexual harassment on a broadcast dwarfed to the rank of a fly.
My article was supported then, but Asi Ezer preferred to stay in the populist arena and for this article he preferred not to comment.
Six years passed, #metoo revolution broke out, harassment and sexual assaults received the attention they deserved in the media and in general, degrading power relations were found in a magnifying glass and measured by force, and even the proud community decided to break silence and report harassment and assaults occurring within its fortified walls. The silence and scars of the victims do not reconcile because of the community's common struggles for equality.
And now, actor Yehuda Nahari has received the courage to publish in an interview with Walla the alleged harassment that crushed his heart for ten years.
This time, Ezer knew, no attempt to downplay his apparent actions would succeed, not in the current media climate and certainly not against the background of any awareness of the issue.
He preferred to remain silent.
Even the almost complete disregard for the topic of News 12 from Beit Keshet and the stabilization of the good company "Knowing Everything" and keeping its celebs' friend Mia Dagan on the side of Ezer, did not help to stop the speeding train.
Even the Israel LGBT Association has expressed full and absolute support for Straight who dared to break the silence. Turning the spotlight out? Not this time.
"I'll prey on him in a second"
An act that was like this was: On the fifth day in December 2015, the premiere episode of the third season of "The Next Star" was broadcast.
During the episode, as in many other episodes hosted by Auxiliary, sexual harassment emerged on his part like mushrooms after the rain, in front of the camera, with no filter, no worries, with zero thought.
It goes without saying that not only Asilla is to blame for this, but also the production team, the director and all the arc directors who knew and did nothing, even if one has to be headless to be able to ignore all these blatant harassments.
Ezer's act that was particularly jarring was to talk about the partner of one of the contestants as if he were a chicken sausage. "I'll prey on him for another second," he told Rotem Sela, staring at the block of Argentine meat in front of him, holding himself tight so as not to pounce on the prey. "All Israelis say the accent is sexy," in the confrontational innocence and company of prey Eliana Sarah Lubiniki tried to minimize the damage, but Assi did not allow the blatant harassment to slip under his hands and clarified "No, not the accent, only him."
To add insult to injury, Ezer went on to address the contestant in Spanish while wanting his good friend Rotem Sela, who is sitting next to him.
"She will not understand anything, she is very obscure," he told his stunned guests while perpetuating prejudices about blondes.
"She's just beautiful and that's all. She's here thanks to me," the TV king declared.
At Eliana's audition, Ezer watched from the seats on the side of the audience, next to her handsome partner.
"Asi knows who to get infected with," Keren Peles giggled at them.
"He came alone," Asi clarified, "It's not nice that he came alone, I'm hosting him a girlfriend. Rotem will manage there."
More pearls of wisdom thrown into the air in five compressed minutes of sexual harassment in "The Next Star": "You let the cat keep the cream" (Harel Skaat) and "I am not satisfied with one!"
(Another stigma that would have been better to cut).
So what if he's straight?
So what if he's with his girlfriend?
So what if the person in front of you is a sane person who understands what you are saying and all he has left is to fold in embarrassment in front of the cameras?
So what if the year is 2015 and there is an orderly and clear law on sexual harassment in the workplace and in general?
This single reminder, to Asi's behavior in prime time, illuminates Yehuda Nahari's complaint in a bright light.
Ostensibly, of course.
Everything ostensibly.
"Collective sexual harassment"
The then television critic of "Israel Today" Shir Ziv, raised the question "If, God forbid, Ezer was straight, was he allowed to mock the women of the contestants in this way?". The answer is self-evident, but also emphasizes an important detail that constitutes the nature of the use of the environment of an auxiliary for its benefit and its (apparent) desires. As far as Azer is concerned, just like Gal Ochowski, for that matter, since he is gay, the rules that apply to a straight man do not apply to him. seemingly. To stare rudely at a straight man is perceived in his eyes as something graceful and perhaps even humorous, not a nuisance whose outcome is devastating (and it's time to mention the way there is also the young audience and imitator watching). As for the attackers, all these laws on harassment have been written for women, and because of straight men, and harassment of a man by another man on or off screen is a completely different chicken, certainly harmless (if you asked yourself what connects irresponsible snobs like Zipper and harassers) Ostensibly as Ochowski and Ezer, after all this is it).
When the facilitator presents himself as a victim of homophobia, as a fighter for justice and a clear symbol of the subject, the artificial aura he creates casts a shadow over the alleged harassment he has committed. This was the way Ezer, who woke up in the morning, saw the headline I gave to the TV review and was shocked, to evade the review itself and present himself as a victim of my actions. I wanted to point out an ugly phenomenon that has no place in television, neither today nor in 2015, but Asi was strong and brave and the world was not willing to listen. Thank God this is no longer the case.
Inbal Garon wrote at the time on the OnLife website: "This type of television behavior is a collective sexual harassment, without of course eliminating the personal harm to the contestant or guest. That a handsome contender comes to the program requires the facilitator or the gay judge to start with him, according to some contract? ". These insights, which today are as clear as day to all of us, then, before his bed and the openness of the proud community to harass within it, etc., were harder to swallow. But such behavior has no statute of limitations - the person who did so ten or six years ago will continue to do so as long as they do not restrain him. In other words, the exact opposite is to let him lead a "Ninja Israel" style program, which in its local version looks like Chipendales on acid and not like a legitimate sports competition. Thus, from a temporary appearance in the variety of programs hosted by Azer, the male object was given a permanent place in prime time. Thank you for getting used to it.
Dressed men?
Not in our program, Photo: Screen
"Not from my national mother"
Six years have passed since I gave the headline "Everyone hates Asi Ezer," and a TV review from the same newspaper, written by Nir Wolf, bears the headline "It's time to take Asi Ezer off the screen."
This time, neither Assi Ezer nor anyone else will come to us with complaints about choosing an offensive or inappropriate title.
Reality has changed, and with it perception.
Asi Ezer is neither a victim nor a poor man, he eats the porridge he cooked, the one we had to swallow for too long.
"Asi Ezer never fit the national mummy model that Rainbow Broadcasting wore on," Wolf wrote in a review.
"It's enough to examine the Kering characters he wrote for 'Being With Her' to grasp where he would like to draw boundaries. "A ninja who wants men is known, but we have already repressed how the object helped and embarrassed in a live broadcast at the Eurovision in front of hundreds of millions the Spanish singer, or how he recorded his neighbor moaning and broadcast it on the radio."
Asi Ezer makes sure that 200 million viewers concentrate on what matters.
Eurovision 2019,
Yes, not only on television was a disturbing helper, also on his radio show he often provoked the rage of his listeners, with the most memorable harassment being the case where he played without thinking twice about his neighbor having sex.
Even the hallucinatory objectivity in the most watched transmitter on the globe passed quietly because it is Asi and he is gay so he is allowed and other lies that have become our reality.
Examples of Azer's harassment are not lacking.
Another fascinating insight that Wolfe made makes a much-needed comparison to another television nuisance.
"Asi Ezer, the fruit of the love of his uncle Topaz and Peacock, symbolizes a television that empowers itself. At its center is a talent that flies over itself, that talks about itself, that makes films about itself, that embodies itself in commercials, that imitates it in 'Great Country' and is aired on morning shows."
Exactly the same broadcaster that glorified Dudu Topaz at the time and gave him a stage to kiss and bite Natalie Oreiro live, gave Lassie help all the power that a man like him should not give, protected him and elevated him to the status of an almighty Almighty drunk from a power that allowed him everything. It used to be under a kind of affirmative action fog, a sort of convention that gay people are allowed to do on TV what straight is forbidden out of absolute support for the persecuted minority. But those days are gone, one of the clear symbols of the community Gal Ohovsky is accused of harassment and sexual exploitation, the clear symbol of coming out of the closet and his good friend Ivri Lider was caught in the act when he stated about the complainants against Ohovsky that "it is important that people can make their voices heard, but not." Other than the holder of the Tel Aviv Municipality Pride Case Itai Pinkas is accused of sexual assault and Yehuda Nahari, the straight actor, mustered the courage to talk about the disturbing invitation Massey received to have fun with him during an audition, and perhaps, finally, opened the eyes of millions of viewers.In a way that will not be able to close.
find the differences.
Dudu Topaz and Natalie Oreiro,
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
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