Serbian media raise alarm over announced performance at Hacienda, while Croatia recalls her series of controversial statements about Croatia, Operation Storm, and the Croatian language.
The announcement of Serbian singer Jelena Karleuša's performance at the Hacienda club in Vodice, scheduled for the night of August 15-16, has sparked a wave of reactions on both sides of the border. While part of the Croatian public objects to her earlier statements, Serbian media outlets like Informer have portrayed the event as an attack on the singer due to her nationality, labeling critics as "Ustashas" and "Serb-haters."
The Mayor of Vodice, Ante Cukrov, stated that Karleuša is not welcome due to her statements about Croatia, emphasizing that the issue is not with performers from Serbia, but solely with her personal views. "Everyone is welcome in Vodice," Cukrov said, adding that the City cannot decide on the program of a private club.
The harshest tone was taken by Belgrade's Informer, which titled its first article: "Ustashas Attack Karleuša! Urgent Statement from the Club: 'We Will Not Tolerate Threats'." The text claims the singer "received threats due to her performance in Croatia" and mentions "derogatory comments directed at the singer."
Following Cukrov's statement, Informer published another article titled "Fascist Outbursts in Croatia - New Serb-Hater Speaks Up: They Want to Expel Karleuša, She's 'a Thorn in Their Side'." They described the mayor's reaction as "shameful" and labeled him a "Serb-hater," concluding that "Croatian politicians are once again showing their true face and spreading intolerance."
Other Serbian portals reported more restrainedly. Mondo wrote about "chaos on social media," while Telegraf relayed Hacienda's statement in which the club says it will not tolerate hate speech, insults, or threats, and that Karleuša will take the stage after midnight, i.e., August 16, once the Feast of the Assumption has already ended.
Jelena Karleuša, born in 1978 in Belgrade, has been on the entertainment scene for three decades. She began her career at 16 and built her status as a regional star through major concerts and her role as a judge on "Zvezda Granda." However, political provocations and radical shifts have become an equally important part of her public identity.
Once an outspoken critic of Aleksandar Vučić and a supporter of protests against his rule, she made a complete U-turn in 2022. She supported Vučić and the SNS, attended a party rally, and after the tragedy at the Novi Sad railway station, she advocated for the arrest of protesters and the imprisonment of professors.
In parallel with her political transformation, her rhetoric towards Croatia became more radical. As early as 2016, she asked why the Croatian people allow the authorities to "revive Nazism and fascism." She called Operation Storm a "shameful action" in which hundreds of thousands of innocent Serbs were expelled.
In May 2024, she went a step further by publishing a claim that constitutes open collective accusation: "Every Croatian's grandfather killed Serbs." She did not speak about individuals or political leadership, but effectively attributed responsibility to all Croats.
She called Croatian singer Severina a "fool full of hatred" and accused her of "celebrating genocide" against Serbs due to her stance on Operation Storm. In August 2025, she linked Operation Storm to Srebrenica, writing: "Srebrenica cannot be without Storm," placing the adjudicated genocide on the same level as the Croatian military-police operation.
Perhaps the most bizarre outburst occurred in February 2025 on Informer TV, when, amid mass student protests in Serbia, she claimed she could hear the "Croatian dialect of the Serbian language" among the protesters. At the same time, she "wholeheartedly" wished Croatia "what is happening to Serbia." Although it has not been confirmed that she literally mentioned the canopy collapse, that sentence was interpreted in Croatia as an allusion to the Novi Sad tragedy.
This is not the first time that Karleuša's performances in the region have caused a stir. Recently, her performance at the Aqua club in Sarajevo, scheduled for August 8, was canceled after BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković requested a ban due to incitement of national and religious hatred. In Skopje, where she is scheduled to perform on October 17 at the Jane Sandanski Arena, a petition has been launched whose initiators claim that Karleuša "promotes Satanism and destroys faith."
Karleuša has not yet publicly commented on the entire situation.
