It will not be broadcast on Rai3, as expected, in the CheSarà program. But Antonio Scurati's monologue on April 25th, which Rai blocked 24 hours after it was broadcast, goes viral, even shared by Giorgia Meloni on her Facebook profile. The stop was announced in the morning by presenter
Serena Bortone
, who revealed that she had learned 'with dismay, and by pure chance', that the contract with the author of the bestselling tetralogy on Mussolini had been 'cancelled', 'without explanation plausible'. A choice criticized by the opposition, which calls for 'censorship'. Rai replies: no veto on the writer's name, but 'economic and contractual investigations'. The Prime Minister distances herself by publishing the text in its entirety, 'because those who have always been ostracized and censored by the public service will never ask for anyone to be censored'.
From the murder of Matteotti to Marzabotto, in the speech - the text of which soon becomes viral everywhere - Scurati defines fascism as 'an irredeemable phenomenon of systematic murderous and massacre political violence' and points the finger at Meloni herself, who 'took the distanced itself from the indefensible brutalities perpetrated by the regime (the persecution of the Jews) without ever repudiating the fascist experience as a whole, it blamed the massacres carried out with the complicity of the Republican fascists on the Nazis alone, and finally it ignored the fundamental role of the Resistance in the Italian rebirth (to the point of never mentioning the word "anti-fascism" on the occasion of April 25, 2023)'. The gloss is clear: 'Until that word - anti-fascism - is pronounced by those who govern us, the specter of fascism will continue to haunt the house of Italian democracy'.
'Telemeloni censors Scurati on April 25th, Rai explains', says Sandro Ruotolo of the Democratic Party. 'Rai should retrace its steps', they ask from the M5s, raising the case with the Supervisory Authority. And the president of the commission Barbara Floridia also requests 'detailed responses' from the company. 'Rai is not yours, get your act together', writes Carlo Calenda in X addressing Meloni. The company 'is increasingly bent on partisan interests', says Peppe De Cristofaro from Avs.
Viale Mazzini's response is entrusted to the words of Paolo Corsini, director of the Insight: 'No censorship. Scurati's participation has never been questioned', he explains, recalling that the writer's name had been included in the official list of guests and inviting us 'not to confuse editorial aspects with those of an economic and contractual nature, on which investigations due to higher figures than expected and other promotional aspects to be clarified connected to the relationship between the writer and other competing publishers'.
The financial request would therefore have ended up in the crosshairs - which would have been 1,800 euros - and the risk of indirectly advertising the Sky series based on M. The
son of the century, the 2019 Strega prize-winning book by Scurati. Rai would have thought of hosting the writer for free then would have tried to close at 1,500 euros. However, an internal note from the company reports that the participation was canceled 'for editorial reasons'.
Rai 'clarifies about Scurati's super compensation', asks the president of the Chamber's Culture commission Federico Mollicone from Fratelli d'Italia. The FdI supervisors echo this, announcing the request to audit the leaders of Viale Mazzini: 'It must be ascertained whether it is true that to read a one-minute monologue on 25 April Rai would have had to pay around 2 thousand euros' and ' whether the failure to air is due to an editorial choice or an economic one'.
Meloni then intervenes on social media: 'In an Italy full of problems, even today the left is building a case. This time it is for an alleged censorship of a monologue by Scurati to celebrate April 25th. The left shouts at the regime, Rai replies that it has simply refused to pay 1,800 euros (the monthly salary of many employees) for a minute of monologue. I don't know what the truth is, but I'll easily publish the text of the monologue (which I hope I won't have to pay for)'.
And while, from the stage of the demonstration with the Uil, the secretary of the CGIL Maurizio Landini also points the finger at Scurati's 'blackout', the writer's text will be read in various Italian squares and theaters on 25 April, at the invitation of the mayor Giorgio Gori from Bergamo.