Yesterday, the archbishop of Kalocsa hastily suspended Gergő Bese, a Catholic priest and a strong supporter of Orbán's regime. Although Orbán comes from a Protestant, non-religious family, the Catholic church firmly supports his rule. Father Bese was a young and dynamic priest who blessed Orbán’s new office building, a former Carmelite monastery.
Father Gergő Bese blessing the Prime Minister's office (this photo was removed from Orbán's social media accounts yesterday) and attending CPAC Hungary. Note the "Woke Zero" slogan...
He attended CPAC Hungary to meet America’s finest and appeared in social media posts with Orbán's propagandists. However, this all came to an abrupt end yesterday.
Father Gergő Bese and Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, also a devout catholic
Why? Father Gergő, who spoke out against the LGBTQ propaganda that is disrupting families and threatening the souls of our children, is gay. According to Válasz Online, prominent government leaders received a dossier detailing Father Gergő's homosexual activities, which included attending gay sex parties and appearing in videos posted on gay porn websites.
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Father Gergő with members of the government-sponsored influencer team Megafon after he blessed their office
The country is livid with laughter, and meme creators are having a field day.
Are the Hungarians homophobic, or is this the famous Schadenfreude, with Central-Eastern Europeans laughing at someone else’s misery? Yes and no. Let me explain this, as usual, with a joke, or this time instead with a story about a joke.
One of the less dirty memes…
In 1939, Prime Minister Béla Imrédy, an antisemitic and fascist politician, was forced to resign when his political opponents leaked to the press that two of his great-grandparents were Jews. Imrédy had proposed laws restricting Jews from holding certain public offices and applying quotas in others. Ironically, according to his own laws, he was considered a person of Jewish origin and, therefore, ineligible to hold a government position.
Béla Imrédy in traditional Hungarian court finery (“díszmagyar”)
In the same way as today, Budapest was filled with laughter. But Imrédy’s downfall did not change the overall political situation. That night, agents of the Secret Police were present in the numerous cabaret theatres in Budapest. These can be considered distant relatives or perhaps even the ancestors of the typical American late-night shows. The host, known as the conferencier, would come out before the curtains every night to announce the scheduled program. Before doing so, he would discuss current events, including jokes about public figures and their actions.
László Békeffy (also spelled as Békeffi) in front of the curtain
The theaters were usually managed by Jews, and most of the hosts were also Jewish. The Secret Police were present to catch the conferencier telling jokes deemed anti-patriotic, which was a criminal offense at the time. As a result, they could arrest the hosts and possibly some audience members.
In one of the theatres, the Pódium, the famous conferencier László Békeffy was about to give his speech. Everyone, the police agent and the regular audience waited for the jokes about Imrédy. Békeffy came out, spread his arms, and said, " Oh my” (or “Could you believe it?” there are many versions of this urban legend). Then he bowed and retired behind the curtain. The audience exploded with laughter.
Several regimes later, Hungarians feel the same. Schadenfreude tastes especially sweet when someone from the inner circles, loud and obnoxious, turns out to be the exact person he ardently and publicly hates.
Make no mistake: we know that this changes nothing.
Back in 1939, antisemitism grew, and a few years later, the Holocaust happened. Békeffy himself was taken to the Dachau concentration camp; he barely survived.
Father Gergő’s case is not the first gay scandal of Orbán’s regime. In November 2020, József Szájer, one of the founders of Orbán’s party and the author of the authoritarian, anti-gay new constitution, was forced to resign from the European Parliament after he was caught at an illegal gay orgy in Brussels during the COVID lockdown.
A typical József Szájer meme
But events like this allow us to let out the steam by raucous laughter.
On a more serious note, this scandal comes after last week, a Hungarian individual, Bence Horváth, was arrested on charges that he conspired with others to illegally export U.S.-origin radio communications technology to Russian government end users without a license. After the arrest, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó made an unscheduled visit to Moscow.
Szijjártó after after receiving a medal for friends of Russia in December 2021
Hungarians are always eager to uncover hidden connections between events and see the “bigger picture”, often suspecting conspiracies. Father Gergő's case could be seen as a result of American efforts to dismantle Russian spy rings and influencer networks.
Every Hungarian regime, including the current one, is filled with hypocrites. We eagerly await our next chance to laugh.
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There is Mr Peter Szijarto on the last picture, not Mr Szajer. Please correct.