Esther Mucientes Madrid
Madrid
Updated Friday, February 9, 2024-08:10
"Little birds, let's dance / When you're just born / Your little tail has to move chu chu chu chu...".
And
John Travolta
wagged his tail and got involved. If last week Spain celebrated its
Benidorm Fest
with the victory of
Nebulossa
y su
Zorra
, this week it was Italy's turn with
Sanremo
. The Italian song festival is also where the country's representative for
Eurovision
comes from . And like a good festival, a good controversy could not be left out. However, on this occasion what is surprising about it are its protagonists:
John Travolta
,
Los Pajaritos
, banned videos and accusations of covert advertising.
The American actor was one of the international stars invited to the second gala of the 74th edition of
Sanremo
, along with other great stars such as
Russell Crowe
, who has not hesitated to also mock
Travolta
by imitating his partner dancing
on the
Sanremo stage.
The Little Birds
.
Travolta
's presence
, in addition to giving international visibility to
Sanremo
, had to be accompanied by a certain spectacle on the part of the actor. Upon his arrival at the Ariston Theater, he danced with the gala's presenter, Amadeus, several of the songs that made him an icon, such as
Saturday night fever
. So far everything is correct.
The problem came when, among the songs that
John Travolta
had to dance to, he played
Los Pajaritos
, the song composed by the Swiss
Werner Thomas
in 1957 and which in Spain became a hit of the 70s and of popular festivals,
María Jesús
, and in Italy
Danna Paola
did the same
.
The gala had a surprise in store because outside the studio,
the comedian and co-presenter
Fiorello was waiting for
John Travolta
, who encouraged him to do the "bird dance." Suddenly, at the doors of the Ariston, about a dozen people dressed as chickens appeared. Although at first the actor agreed to rehearse the famous dance, when the music started the girls dressed as chickens appeared and
Amadeus
and
Fiorello
tried to put a duck-bill-shaped hat on his head, the actor flatly refused saying "no." "It fits me" and throwing it to the ground. John
Travolta
looks clearly uncomfortable, an omen of what would come later.
Within a few hours, if not minutes, the American actor had become the center of jokes and debate in Italy after being pushed to perform the "little birds dance." The images spread like wildfire in the media and on social networks,
where users spoke of "humiliation" and joked about the price of the show
, since media such as
Corriere della Sera
have estimated the cache
that the actor received at
200,000 euros.
for their presence at the festival.
A cache that has been accompanied by two controversies and that has opened the debate in Italy. The first is that the actor has prohibited Rai
,
Italian television, from showing any type of image of the moment of him wagging his tail. According to
Corriere della Sera
, the protagonist of
Pulp Fiction
has refused to sign permission to public television
Rai
for images of the gala to be broadcast again in the future.
In fact, although seeing
Travolta
dancing
Los Pajaritos
may seem like a great success in the show that accompanies
Sanremo , the truth is that
Fiorello
himself
has later assured that "they had made one of the most terrifying
sketches
in the history of Italian television ", as the gala captured more than 10.3 million viewers in front of the television and
reached a 60.1% screen share
.
A case of covert advertising?
The second, for an alleged case of covert advertising. The consumer association Codacons has asked the
Court of Auditors
for explanations about this cache and has asked that it be investigated whether
Rai
advertised the sneakers she was wearing, from the
U-Power
brand , shown several times on camera while she danced.
Apparently, in addition to the
200,000 euros
that have been paid for his presence in
Sanremo ,
one million euros
was paid for his accommodation (not by Rai, but by
U-Power
itself
) which would also explain
the director's stuttering. festival, Amadeus, who often stopped at the actor's shoes
, showing the sneakers he wore on several occasions during the broadcast of
Travolta
's
Little Birds
.
Rai
has admitted that it made a mistake by not having "hidden" the sneaker logo during the live broadcast, but
denies that there was a commercial agreement between the
brand
, Rai and Travolta. According to Amadeus's explanations,
Travolta only came to reimburse her expenses
because she liked being on stage at the Festival. «I don't even know the brand of the shoes, how do you imagine that I am promoting a pair of Travolta shoes?
Fantasanremo
is this
."
Amadeus stated at a press conference that
Travolta
"knew everything that would happen" and that he only received "a low reimbursement of expenses" from Rai for his presence at the gala.
Despite the explanations, there are many things that do not add up. For example, the fact that
Franco Uzzeni
, owner of the
U-Power
brand , was in the front row. Second, the fact that the videos have been removed from Rai, despite the explanation of the contract signed by
Travolta
. Additionally,
U-Power
's brand slogan
is
Don't care be happy!
, the only words spoken in English by Amadeus while he was talking to
Travolta
.
The presenter and artistic director assures that it is just a coincidence, while
Teresa Mannino
, one of the comedians who has performed in
Sanremo
, saves him with a joke: "
They are the only English words he knows
. "