"The Albanian anti-Romani comedy shows broadcast by television stations nationally portray Romani people as unappealing, alien and untrustworthy persons," says lawyer Xhenon Cela of two television programs inciting hatred of Romani people in particular, the Portokalli program on Top-Channel and Al Pazar on the Vision Plus channel. The programs mock Romani people's character as well as their accented Albanian and are followed by the general public.
The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) has published an article on its website drawing attention to this phenomenon. "While elsewhere in Europe, white actors in blackface for the purpose of entertainment is unacceptable, in these Albanian shows all of the Romani characters are played by white actors with their faces painted dark brown, which I consider unacceptable," Cela emphasizes.
A similar anti-Romani show can also be seen in the Czech language through the Facebook social networking site under the name "Jútuber Jožka". The company has refused to block those racist videos despite being called upon to do so repeatedly.
