Polish journalist suspended for calling “Imagine” a “vision of communism” at the Olympic opening

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish state broadcaster suspended a television journalist on Saturday who reacted to a performance of John Lennon’s “Imagine” during the Olympics opening ceremony, saying it was a “vision of communism.”

Broadcaster TVP issued a statement on Saturday saying that journalist and sports commentator Przemyslaw Babiarz would no longer be allowed to provide live commentary during the Summer Olympics.

Lennon’s song asks us to imagine that there is no heaven or hell, no countries and no possessions.

“Unfortunately, this is a vision of communism,” Babiarz said during the grand opening ceremony on Friday evening on the Seine in Paris – a remark that immediately caused controversy among spectators in Poland.

In the statement on his suspension, TVP said: “Mutual understanding, tolerance, reconciliation – these are not only the basic ideas of the Olympic Games, they also form the basis of the standards that guide the new Polish television. There is no consent to violate them.”

The state media in Poland have been an ideological battlefield for years. They were used as a mouthpiece by the right-wing populists who ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose coalition took power r in December acted quickly to wrest their control of the airwaves.

Conservatives and their allies, still reeling from the loss of control over state media, condemned the decision. They included conservative President Andrzej Duda and former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

“The truth will defend itself! Its actions will be remembered and censorship will fail,” Morawiecki wrote on X.

Poland was under the communist rule of the Soviet Union from the end of World War II until 1989 – an era that still arouses great emotions today.

Many of the same Polish conservatives also condemned the mixing of LGBTQ+ themes with a Last Supper tableau during the big ceremony on Friday.