Gagi Jovanovic: I Reached Out to Glisic Over Gardos

Actor Dragan Gagi Jovanovic has spoken out about photos showing him standing next to Darko Glisic, Minister of Public Investment and one of the officials of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The images were posted on X by Dejan Vukelic, deputy editor in chief of Informer, with the comment “Blockaders, who’s on your list?”, after which they were picked up by media outlets close to the government. Jovanovic, one of the more recognizable faces of the student and civic protests since the canopy collapse at the Novi Sad railway station on November 1, 2024, confirmed that the photos are authentic and explained how they came about.

The encounter, he says, came about because of a collapsing street on Gardos, in the Zemun neighborhood where he lives. He described the whole affair as a staged operation planned in advance.

“It’s all a game, a performance that’s part of the Expo, and never has one been staged worse or more naively. I’ve seen enough performances like it,” Jovanovic told N1.

“What can I say, all of this is pretty painful,” he added.

Twice He Asked for Help, Both Times Over Gardos

Jovanovic says he has asked politicians for help twice in his life, and both times the reason was the same part of Zemun. The first time was in 2006, when the Danube flooded.

“The first time was in 2006, when the Danube flooded and Cunarska Street began to collapse. Since I used to play tennis with Nenad Bogdanovic, who was mayor of Belgrade at the time, I called him to help, because the Zemun municipality wasn’t willing to do anything. There was a real danger that a good part of Gardos, along with the church, would come down. Not only did he secure that street, but Nenad Bogdanovic also built the stretch of the quay from Venecija to Radecki. And there isn’t a single plaque there for it, but that’s fine,” Jovanovic said.

So the actor credits the repair of Cunarska Street and the redevelopment of the quay between Venecija and Radecki to Nenad Bogdanovic, then mayor of Belgrade, nineteen years before the disputed photos. Glisic had nothing to do with that intervention.

Why Did the Actor Go to Ub in the First Place?

The second time, he says, there was again a collapse on Gardos, this time in his own street. The neighborhood wrote petitions, but no one answered.

“In my street. My neighbors and all of us tried to solve the problem through the municipality, we wrote petitions, and the municipality and the city weren’t interested. Never mind that someone could break their neck there,” Jovanovic said, adding that children used to play in the collapsed street.

He was then told, he says, that there was “some guy from Ub” who adored him and who could sort things out.

“When they told me there was nothing to be done through the municipality, but that there was some guy in Ub who adored me and that he could take care of everything, I went to see him in Ub,” the actor explains. “He first told me he was a big shot and that everyone in the village called him Dragce.”

When Glisic called him up to take photos together, Jovanovic says he set a condition.

“I asked him: ‘Can you sleep soundly at night, are you honest or are you a bad person?’ I told him: ‘I won’t take a photo with you, because I know you’re a politician, and I don’t take photos with politicians. But if you’re honest, then there’s no problem.’ And he told me: ‘I am, I’m honest.’ I said: ‘Fine,’ and then we took the photo,” Jovanovic recounted.

From that conversation came Glisic’s line about Goran Vesic, which the actor repeats as a joke the minister made: “I just have to frown and he starts shaking.”

The result of the second intervention was the staircase leading up to Sibinjanin Janko Tower. “After that they also rebuilt the staircase, which had collapsed, going up toward the tower. It was done quite nicely, in keeping with that historical and cultural site,” Jovanovic says.

Tihomir Stanic Got the Same Treatment

Alongside Jovanovic, the tabloids also published a photo of actor Tihomir Tika Stanic with Glisic. Stanic likewise confirmed the photo was genuine and pointed out that he had filmed television series in Ub, the municipality Glisic once led as its president.

“I acted in series that were filmed in Ub, and that’s a normal relationship with someone who showed hospitality,” Stanic said, noting that he is wearing a costume in the photo in question.

Stanic has been named publicly as one of the figures linked to the student list, which is why his photo ended up in the same batch of posts.

Reactions From the Government

Glisic joined Informer television live and spoke about his relationships with the actors. Milenko Jovanov, a Serbian Progressive Party member of parliament, commented on the photo on X on August 8, alluding to a well known song that Jovanovic performs.

Informer also tied the photos to an alleged veto on Jovanovic’s name being placed on the student list, a claim for which no independent confirmation was offered. The actor rejects that narrative.

“No one is a harsher critic of me than I am myself. I’m the only one who can veto myself. Nobody gets to judge my character, not at this point, after 60 years. So all of that is nonsense, and those stories are nonsense. Of course, it’s actually good, because it means they’ve aimed at the wrong man. Maybe they think I’m going to go into politics, who knows,” Jovanovic concluded.

What remains an open question is the makeup of the student list itself, something neither Jovanovic nor Stanic addressed. Until then, the only verifiable part of the photos is what both actors admit without reservation: that they were taken, and that it didn’t take much to explain how.