The team behind the cult HRT show 'Nedjeljom u 2' has started releasing archival footage, starting with a heated 2003 debate between Aleksandar Stanković and Ante Đapić about the HSP and Ustaša movement.
Aleksandar Stanković, host of the show 'Nedjeljom u 2', recalled one of the most controversial moments in the show's history, when in 2003 he told prominent Croatian politician Ante Đapić live on air that he was lying. The trigger was a question about the relationship between Đapić's party, the HSP, and the Ustaša movement. More than two decades later, Stanković explained that he still believes his reaction was justified.
On the show's official Facebook page last week, a series of posts featuring old episodes and controversies was announced. "Tomorrow we start posting old episodes and the controversies that came with them. The first is from 2003, when the host told guest Ante Đapić he was lying in response to a question. Is it acceptable for a host to speak to a guest that way? More episodes will follow," the show's team wrote in the announcement.
Stanković clarified the context of the event from over 20 years ago. "In 2003, the political agenda was full of similar nonsense as today. The guest was Ante Đapić, then a relatively important politician. My question was: 'Sir, didn't your party, the HSP, flirt with the Ustaša movement?' He said no, but they had a portrait of Ante Pavelić in their party offices," Stanković told Večernji list.
It was precisely this detail, the host claims, that was key to his decision to tell the guest directly that he was lying. "I told him, 'I'm sorry, but you're lying.' Đapić was a bit taken aback because he believes a show host can't tell a guest they're lying, but I thought then, as I do now, that if a lie is so blatant that it can't be sidestepped or ignored, then it should be thrown in the guest's face as the truth," Stanković concluded.
The 2003 episode itself is remembered for the sharp exchange between the two interlocutors. Đapić began his response with: "It wasn't the HSP that flirted with the Ustaša movement..." but Stanković interrupted him and replied: "I have to laugh; the topic is serious, but you're really lying. You didn't flirt with the Ustaša movement?"
Đapić retorted: "No. What does flirting with the Ustaša movement even mean? You can't tell me I'm lying." What followed was a debate between host and guest that remains one of the most notable moments in the show's history.
By releasing archival clips, the show's team is revisiting moments that sparked controversy over the years and raised questions about the boundaries between journalistic directness and a host's relationship with a guest. The case with Ante Đapić has, more than two decades later, reopened the same question the show's authors posed to their followers on social media: is it acceptable for a TV host to tell a guest directly that they are lying?
