Viki Miljkovic: A Good Deed Isn't Done for Praise
The singer publicly showed proof for the first time on August 13 that she had donated 300,000 dinars, saying she paid it before the concert and before the criticism began.
Singer Viki Miljkovic posted a receipt for 300,000 dinars on her social media on August 13, showing a donation for the treatment of Valentina Marinovic from Pozega. The post came with a long statement, the first time she has spoken publicly about her own charity work.
The trigger was a concert she had booked in Pozega for Saturday. Several outlets criticized her for performing in the same town where a fundraiser for a sick local resident was underway. She says the money came out of her own pocket, and that she paid it before the concert and before any of it made the news.
Why Was Viki Miljkovic Called Out in the First Place?
Valentina Marinovic is a new mother from Pozega who needs help paying for treatment. The town has been raising money for her. When her fundraiser overlapped with the singer’s announced concert, several outlets turned it into a story about a performer singing while others were collecting money for a hospital bill.
None of them, the singer says, called her before publishing.
My dear friends, I think it's time I said something I've never liked talking about in public.
That’s how the statement opens. What follows explains why she has stayed quiet about it until now.
I never felt the need to talk about it publicly, because I believe a good deed isn't done for praise. A good deed is done because it's human, because it's our duty toward another person, and because that's simply how it should be.
What the Singer Wrote About the Attacks
Part of the statement addresses the articles published in recent days directly.
One of my performances was turned into a story that portrayed me as someone with no understanding for other people's suffering. Because of that, a target was painted on my forehead. I was subjected to calls for a boycott, calls for a lynching and all sorts of attacks, over something I essentially have nothing to do with.
She then explains why the accusation hit her the way it did.
In my life I have lost both of my parents, my brother, and two of my closest friends to serious illness. I know what it's like to live from one hope to the next. I know what fear, helplessness, waiting, prayer and that quiet struggle families go through when someone they love most is sick look like.
She explains the receipt in a single sentence.
That's why the photograph I'm posting shows the receipt with which I helped fund the treatment of Valentina Marinovic, a new mother from Pozega, using my own money.
A Donation Box at the Pozega Concert
The show is not being cancelled. Viki Miljkovic confirmed she will go on stage as planned, but that the concert venue will have one addition.
A box will be placed in a visible spot where we'll collect donations for Valentina.
She is inviting the audience to come and contribute. In her statement, she also says she’s grateful to those who wrote against her, because their coverage drew attention to someone who genuinely needs help.
She addressed the outlets directly as well.
So now I'm inviting them too, the editors and writers who targeted me, to show whether they've ever paid for someone's treatment or helped a person in need themselves. And if they haven't, I invite them to follow my example.
First and Last Time
The statement closes with a line meant to shut the topic down for good.
And to be clear, this is the first and last time I will speak publicly this way about my charity work.
Based on what she laid out herself, the timeline runs as follows:
- the 300,000-dinar donation was made before the concert and before any media criticism
- the articles about the concert appeared after that
- the statement with a photo of the receipt came on August 13
- the Pozega concert takes place on Saturday, with a donation box in a visible spot
The singer has never before spoken publicly about the money she gives. She says she has performed at hundreds of charity concerts and helped people, institutions and churches out of public view. This time, she says, she had to speak up because her humanity had been called into question.
