BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Nenad Mihailovic flouts Serbian taboo. He’s openly gay in a country notorious for strident homophobia. He uses a wheelchair in a society that shows little sympathy for the disabled. And he’s a voice of liberal thinking in a nation where strong leaders have a tendency to quash dissent.
So it’s perhaps surprising that Mihailovic has attracted tens of thousands of viewers to his independent talk show – in which he grills politicians, actors, pop stars and activists on such hot-button themes as gay adoption, same-sex marriages, government corruption and relations with Russia.
The program, filmed in his living room and broadcast on YouTube and local TV networks, has struck a chord in Serbia because ordinary people feel increasingly starved of independent information and analysis, as the right-leaning government of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic seeks to sideline journalists who criticize his rule.
Mihailovic launched his unusual program out of revulsion over what he describes as overwhelming pro-government propaganda in Serbia’s mainstream media. He turned his home into a TV studio in order to “ask the questions no one else would.”
Filmed by a small camera operated by his partner, Mihailovic has so far conducted around 20 interviews with public figures and celebrities in the “hot chair.” They tackle issues ranging from politics and the economy, to gay rights, euthanasia, abortion and faith.