“Did you see yourself in the mirror?”: Ukrainian TV presenter Karolina Ashion accused Tkachenko of racism

Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko was again at the epicenter of the scandal. This time he was accused of racism. Famous Ukrainian TV presenter, actress Karolina Ashion wrote in Facebook post, where she spoke about the bitter experience of communicating with the current minister. Moreover, years later, according to Ashion, Tkachenko has not changed.

The TV presenter told how she worked on the 2 + 2 channel six years ago and learned about the casting of the presenters for the morning show. For advice, she then turned to the general producer of 1 + 1 Media Alexander Tkachenko, the girl asked if she could participate.

To understand the whole picture of what is happening, you need to know that Karolina Ashion has an exotic appearance for Ukrainians. Although she was born in the city of Shostka, Sumy region, her father is from Nigeria.

Carolina Ashion

So, after the usual question, Tkachenko's surprising answer followed:

"Have you seen yourself in the mirror? The audience of our channel is not that ... I'm not ready to risk ratings ... "

With his tactless and thoughtless words, he brought Carolina to tears. Her dismissal followed.

- Did I see myself in the mirror? Yes, I saw. Like normal. But, you see, she didn’t come out with skin color for 1 + 1, she doesn’t look like Antonina (the collective image of the viewer of Pluses), - wrote the presenter.

It would seem that six years have passed, Tkachenko became the Minister of Culture, he should be ashamed of his words. However, the second meeting of the head of the Ministry of Culture and Ashion put everything in its place.

According to Karolina's story, after so many years at the Leopolisjazz jazz festival, she again came face to face with Tkachenko. The presenter, already well-known in Ukraine, wanted to remind him of an unpleasant story from the past, but again she received a strange answer:

“So, what would you like to hear from me? Will you be satisfied with the answer that now I would not say such a thing?

When Ashion was speechless, his wife joined in the words of the minister and began to poke Caroline, apparently defending her husband.

“So, can I ask you for an apology?”, - turned to the host Tkachenko with a forced smile on his face.

Ashion went on to say that she was never able to "close the gestalt" and forget the insulting words addressed to her. She stressed that it may not even be about racism, but about the lack of breadth of character, the ability to make unexpected and bold decisions, “that do not fit into the stereotyped ideas of what our public will like and what will not like.”

- And one more thing: imagine the same situation as it was with me, somewhere in the West, in the States, for example. What would happen to the producer? So I did not manage to “close the gestalt”. And now my 100% Ukrainian soul, the soul of a simple Ukrainian black woman, is bleeding again..., - summed up the presenter.

Note that later Tkachenko himself appeared under Ashion's post, who hastened to justify himself for his behavior.

- Carolina, congratulations. Thank you for raising such questions and expressing your vision of the situation. It is better to return to them again to remove the misunderstanding. It is not difficult for me to voice my position. I have always looked and seen (and still do) in front of me personality and professionalism, and not gender, orientation, skin color and the like. We have been colleagues for years: you are the host of the successful 2 + 2 channel, and I am the CEO of the holding, which this channel is part of. Do you remember the period when you wanted to move from 2 + 2 to Pluses. Let me add a little clarity. It was not my direct job to conduct castings for job leads, - wrote the minister.

It is noteworthy that Tkachenko did not apologize and did not even refute his words about racism.

- It's a shame that because of your non-receipt of a position on another channel of the same holding, you got such an offensive impression. In my teams of managers and managers in any company or organization - there has always been and is a balance. I am for diversity, inclusiveness and vision in the difference of values ​​that should be multiplied, - the minister added.

Previously between former president of Georgia, Ukrainian politician Mikheil Saakashvili и Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko a serious scandal erupted. Saakashvili accused the minister of trying to pull off a corruption scheme through the creation of the State Security Service and the State Inspectorate for Cultural Heritage.

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