Getting John Travolta to do the fad Chicken Dance at the Sanremo Song Festival was "one of the most terrible gags in the history of TV", artistic director Amadeus and his showman sidekick Fiorello admitted Thursday after a huge social media backlash against the "demeaning" stunt played on the movie legend.
"We had our second bomb scare at the festival today, but it would have been better if we'd had a bomb scare last night so the Chicken Dance would have been cancelled," said Fiorello.
"Travolta will never want to come back to Italy".
Fans of the Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Pulp Fiction startook to social media to voice their ire over the way Travolta had been allegedly "humiliated" and "embarrassed" by the host and the showman.
Travolta, 71, had first led Amadeus through the moves of hisiconic big screen dances before Amadeus and Fiorello took him outside the Ariston Theater and taught him the Ballo del QuaQua, as it is known in Italian.
Meanwhile Rai state broadcaster denied doing a deal to publicize the brand of trainers Travolta was wearing, saying the close-ups of the shoes were necessary to highlight his dance moves of him.
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