A well-known sports journalist in Poland, Przemysław Babiarz, has been suspended after a controversial remark he made on the air Friday during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Babiarz will not be commentating on any further broadcasts from Paris for the time being, public broadcaster TVP said in Warsaw on Saturday.
When French singer Juliette Armanet started singing “Imagine” by John Lennon at the opening ceremony on Friday, Babiarz said: “A world without heaven, without nations and without religion. This is a vision of peace that is meant to be touching. Unfortunately, it is the vision of communism.”
His statement was met with criticism, particularly on social media.
Broadcaster TVP distanced itself from Babiarz, saying: “Mutual understanding, tolerance, reconciliation – these are not only the basic Olympic ideas, they are also the basis for the standards that guide the new Telewizja Polska (Polish Television).”
Poland’s government under centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk replaced the entire TVP management shortly after taking office last December. Prior to this, critics saw the broadcaster as a mouthpiece of the previous national-conservative PiS government.
