Mala Cana and Jovana Jeremic clash over national pension
The singer and UEUIS president says on the show Novo jutro that many singers go to rallies to beg for a national pension, and host Jovana Jeremic cut her off.
Singer Svetlana Bajic Mala Cana said on the show Novo jutro that many singers go to rallies to sing so they can beg for a national pension there. Host Jovana Jeremic cut in at the first mention of politics, and footage of the conversation was published on October 12.
Mala Cana came to the studio as the widow of singer Andrija Bajic to talk about the dispute over his estate and will. The show aired on Saturday, and the footage is on the Novo jutro YouTube channel.
What did she say about the inheritance dispute?
Asked how far she had got with the inheritance case, Mala Cana answered that nothing had changed:
“It all stayed the way it is, it is being handled the way it is, and the fight goes on, as far as that is concerned.”
She also said the insults on social media were written by Andrija Bajic’s children, who, in her words, join her live Instagram streams. She claims to have recordings of threats from one such stream. Jeremic said they had a list of insults and read part of it:
“Everything from drop dead, to a word starting with K, to you killed your husband, to you should end up on the street.”
Where the conversation turned to politics
Jeremic asked whether anything in her story could be told without politics. Mala Cana began talking about the divide in society, and the host interrupted her again:
“First of all, you can’t talk about politics, can you?”
“I know I can’t talk,” the singer replied. Jeremic went on:
“Well no, you don’t. Singers are there to sing, not to stir things up and talk about politics. Did you stir things up?”
Mala Cana asked what exactly she had supported, and the host answered that she was not talking about support but about exploiting a situation. The singer rejected that: “Politics divides singers, and I have the right to support the politics I want.”
What exactly did she say about the national pension?
Right after that she made the claim that made the exchange newsworthy:
“Many singers go to rallies to sing so that they can go there and beg to get a national pension.”
The sentence refers to “many” singers, not all of them, and Mala Cana did not name anyone. She added an example of unfairness in how the pension is granted:
“Someone who is 65 can get it, while someone who is almost 80 has not received a national pension.”
By her account, that describes a case in which one artist gets a pension at 65 and another does not get one even at almost eighty. Jeremic did not pursue the subject afterward and moved on to another guest.
In September of this year, Mala Cana was elected president of the Association of Entertainment Artists and Performers of Serbia (UEUIS).
