Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1283588
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 AUGUST 2020 INTERVIEW It's been a week since you an- nounced, in a Facebook update, that Xarabank had ended its un on the national station. How did you originally find out about the decision? Was there any form of discussion or negotiations going on in the background? I no longer get involved in any of that myself. Today, I am just an employee of the company that produces Xarabank. My employers are the ones who apply for programme slots on PBS; it is they who then enter into discussions with the PBS board. After the last meeting, I got a phone call informing me that the board no longer wanted Xarabank on PBS. They were ready to discuss other pro- grammes, but not Xarabank. And that's how I got to know. At first I said nothing; I felt it was none of my business, as a mere company employee. But then, I started receiving so many calls and messages - among others, from journal- ists - asking me if the rumours were true… and I felt awkward: I am a journalist too, and I was uncomfortable not giving any answers. Then I started getting down about it. At first I planned to make an announcement on Thursday; but I got a sort of panic attack, and didn't go ahead. To tell you the truth, I even spoke to [psychiatrist] Dr Anton Grech: who helped me prepare myself to break the news on Friday. Because at the time, it felt as though I was killing my own baby: something I had raised myself. Today, however, I see things differently. Now it feels like having a son who finds a good job in Australia. I'd be sorry to see him boarding the aer- oplane; but at the same time, I'd be happy that he's going to have a better life… Your analogy suggests that Xarabank, too, will continue to have a future. Are we to under- stand that the show will migrate to a private station instead? No, I'm not thinking that far ahead. To be honest, right now I'm in a situation where I don't even want to take any de- cisions, or plan for the future. This is how I've always been anyway: I never even keep cop- ies of my own programmes… if it wasn't for my mother record- ing all my shows, I wouldn't have any archives at all. As far as I'm concerned, the future doesn't exist. Only the present matters. Right now, Xarabank al- ready has a very strong online presence: as strong, in fact, as it was on television. This is something I certainly don't want to lose. And it also goes to show that, even if people have enough power to stop me on a State channel… they can't stop me from talking. So if there was anyone out there, who thought that they would be shutting my mouth by removing Xarabank…. they are mistaken, as they were mis- taken before. In the past, they tried to si- lence me through violence. I was arrested; put in prison, boycotted… but throughout all this I continued speaking my mind, and expressing what I believe. Because when I believe in something, I have to express it. I'm the type who can't even sleep otherwise. These days I try not to answer the phone af- ter 10pm: because I sometimes get calls from, say, a mother who wants to talk about what her son is going through in prison… and that's it. I won't be able to sleep. I think I have a problem, to tell you the truth: because I get so worked up when I hear these things – so overcome by the need to do something about it, right way – that it's better if I hear them in the morning… Before turning to the question of why Xarabank was actu- ally terminated: this facet of your character certainly came across on TV. The show has in fact often been criticised for overplaying the popular sen- timentality card: and perhaps for overstepping its remit, by doubling up as a philanthropic charity event. Do you think you may have overstepped your role as a TV host, by projecting such a Messianic image? To be honest, I think that stems from the influence of Christianity. I might not be 'religious', in any convention- al sense; but Jesus Christ as a philosopher, or political figure, has had a huge impact on me. Even as a I child, I used to feel he was inviting me to do some- thing… to make some kind of difference, in the world… and now I've reached a stage where I worry that the world may end up changing me instead. This is something I have al- ways resisted. And I'm not saying this to boast: because it could be a problem, too. It is something I hear from the people around me all the time: 'Why do you feel you have to be responsible for all the world's problems? Why does everything always have to end up on your shoulders'? But then… how can I ignore it, when I am approached by somebody – with an interest in appearing on Xarabank, mind you – who tells me he is living out in the street? And when I go out to meet him, I find him sleeping under a tree? How can I just walk away from some- thing like that, and do nothing? There is, however, a differ- ence between highlighting homelessness as an issue, and focusing on the plight of the individual concerned. Couldn't it also be argued, in those cir- cumstances, that you'd be 'ex- ploiting' that man to boost your viewership ratings? In this particular case, I my- self told him that there was no need to appear on Xarabank. I didn't want to make a public spectacle of him. But this is al- so true for 98% of the cases that reach us. The reality is that the vast majority of stories that we Xarabank host PEPPI AZZOPARDI remains defiant after PBS's controversial decision to terminate its popular f lagship talkshow: if anyone thinks the decision will silence him… 'they are mistaken' The show must go on… Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt