Monthly Monitoring Highlights – May

During the month of May, the RDN monitoring team identified a range of hateful narratives and discourse driven by sexism and misogyny, alongside hate speech and intolerance, denial of war crimes and misinformation. 

Bullying and misogyny on reality TV in Albania

During the last days of April and the beginning of May 2026, the reality TV program “Ferma VIP” was marked by a continuous pattern of denigration, hate speech, bullying, and escalating aggression. These incidents unfolded within a context where such behaviour was repeatedly tolerated, insufficiently addressed, and effectively normalised by the production, creating the conditions for further escalation.

The conflict on Ferma VIP involved contestants Ola, Gresa, Fabjola Elezaj, and Adion Puka who were involved in repeated confrontations targeting Mimoza Ahmeti, with insults ranging from misogynistic slurs to personal and age-based attacks. The hostility intensified when Adion allegedly threatened and physically intimidated Mimoza, while offensive language became increasingly normalized among participants.

The situation escalated further during the live broadcast on 4 May 2026, when Fabjola openly insulted host Arbana Osmani on air with additional aggressive behaviour including throwing objects at contestants. Only after public backlash and the live escalation did production intervene by canceling the televote and reconsidering Fabjola’s participation.

Overall, the incident reflected how prolonged tolerance of verbal abuse, bullying, misogynistic language, and escalating aggression created a toxic environment that ultimately led to a highly public on-air breakdown, later amplified across social media and online media outlets.

Sexism and misogyny in North Macedonia and Kosovo

In North Macedonia, on a TV show, Nenad Vržalski performed a song that included explicit lyrics describing violence against women. The controversial line he sang expressed a desire to “shake” and “hit” a woman, using graphic language that portrays physical aggression.

The performance itself triggered vast criticism: the issue wasn’t just the lyrics in abstract, but that they were publicly performed on television, in an entertainment setting, which made the violent imagery more visible and subject to public debate. 

After the deadly fire at the “Pulse” nightclub in Kočani on March 16, 2025, which killed 63 young people, Nenad Vržalski (also known publicly as Vržalov or Vržalovski) emerged in the media as one of the survivors and as a volunteer connected to the humanitarian initiative Support Kocani. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, many people perceived his public appearances as sincere expressions of solidarity and shared grief.

However, controversy later emerged because Vržalski is also a singer and had previously performed lyrics during a television show that contained explicit misogynistic and violent imagery.  The backlash became stronger because of the contrast between his public image after the tragedy as a survivor, volunteer, and visible public figure connected to collective mourning  and the violent content of the lyrics he performed publicly. In a country where domestic violence and femicide are serious social issues, many viewed the performance not simply as provocative art, but as language that contributes to a broader culture of misogyny and tolerance of violence against women.

In Kosovo, Doarsa Kica Xhelili, a candidate for the Kosovo Parliament from the Democratic League of Kosovo and a senior official within her party, attended a meeting accompanied by her three-month-old baby and her mother, who remained outside of the meeting room. The media reported on this and published a short news item.

The story prompted numerous reactions on social media, with many commentators accusing Kica Xhelili not only of “using” her child for her election campaign, but also of being willing to do anything, regardless of the consequences, in pursuit of a political position.

Following a wave of comments, many of which contained sexist language, Kica Xhelili responded by explaining the situation. She stated that she was breastfeeding her baby and that her mother had accompanied her in order to help care for the child. She also appealed to the public to stop posting offensive comments.

However, the media outlets that published the story did not moderate or remove comments containing hate speech directed at Kica Xhelili.

During the same month, at the unofficial start of the election campaign, the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Glauk Konjufca, met with supporters and activists of his party in a café.

In a video that later appeared in online media, one person is heard suggesting the opening of a hair salon and the retirement of former President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani. Konjufca first laughed at the suggestion and then, in an ironic tone, repeated: “speaking of hairdressers…?” The people sitting at the table with him, including women, were seen laughing at the tone and narrative.

This behaviour and discourse were met with reactions from political party officials and civil society, who considered the use of sexist language towards women and professions predominantly performed by women to be unacceptable. The NGO QIKA also reacted, stating that such language aims to devalue women in politics through gendered belittling, reviving an old logic in which politics is seen as a male domain, while women who enter it are treated as intruders who are mocked, trivialised, and symbolically disciplined.

Glauk Konjufca later attempted to explain the incident via Facebook, stating that during the gathering he was interrupted by a “pseudo-journalist” who used the term “hairdresser,” and that he merely reacted to the derogatory use of the term, emphasising that many women and girls in Kosovo work in this profession with dignity and support their families through it.

However, journalists later found that the person in question was not a journalist or “pseudo-journalist,” but a well-known supporter of the Vetëvendosje party. 

Sexist and misogyny hold no place in society. Making ‘innocent’ jokes at the expense of women only serves to maintain the patriarchy and solidify outdated ideas of the division of labour between women and men. Women should be treated as equal members of society with respect and dignity.

Hate speech and intolerance in Montenegro

A televised documentary titled “Referendum: A Story of Imaginary Freedom” included disputed statements denying the legitimacy of Montenegrin national identity and portraying Montenegro’s independence and the 2006 referendum as illegitimate, artificial, or a “betrayal.” One of the most serious and alarming parts came at the end of the documentary, where the message reportedly suggested: “We are coming back for what is ours… To be continued… because this is only the beginning.” 

This was perceived as especially threatening because it implied a continuation of claims over Montenegro’s identity, sovereignty, or territory. The film was equally insulting to women in Cetinje as it contained offensive claims about Cetinje and Cetinje women, including insinuations about families in Cetinje during World War II and the so-called ‘demographic explosion’ after the war.

The disputed documentary was reportedly produced by the Serbia-based Center for Social Stability, an organization close to Serbia’s ruling SNS, and was broadcast in two parts on 20 and 21 May 2026 on Montenegrian TV Prva and TV Adria.

The content was broadcast by several media outlets and was later reported by Montenegrin media and addressed by the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services, which restricted the rebroadcasting of Informer TV and opened proceedings against domestic broadcasters (TV Prva and TV Adria). The Agency also issued a decision to impose the maximum fine of ten thousand euros each on TV Adria and TV Prva for broadcasting the documentary film. This suggests that this incident was not only one of political controversy but also treated as a potential media-regulation issue involving hate speech, discrimination, or intolerance.

Denial of war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina

According to Detektor.ba, under a Facebook post about Prijedor published on the profile of a user identified as Dean Deki, a user named Damir Kain Došen replied to one of the comments by claiming that the “white armbands were invented” and by using derogatory language to refer to Bosniaks.

This incident occurred in the period leading up to the commemoration of White Arband Day in Prijedor.

Damir Došen, who was convicted of war crimes, insulted victims in Prijedor using derogatory terms in comments posted on Facebook and denied that white armbands had existed in the town. In Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the white armband (or white ribbon) is a harrowing symbol of the 1992 ethnic cleansing of Bosniak and Croat civilians. 

According to established findings of the International Criminal Tribunal for the formerYugoslavia, the non-Serb population in Prijedor was forced to wear white armbands whenleaving their homes and to mark their houses with white sheets. This served as identificationof their ethnicity. The events are commemorated annually on 31 May as White Armband Dayin Prijedor.

Došen was sentenced to five years in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia after admitting that he had served as a shift leader at the Keraterm detention camp in Prijedor in 1992. Keraterm camp was a concentration camp set up by Bosnian Serb military confining more than 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats under inhumane conditions.

The denial of war crimes is both deeply painful and harmful to victims, survivors, and their loved ones. Reconciliation can only be built through acknowledging the truth and holding those responsible for past crimes accountable. A comment like this under a post trivialises documented war crimes and can cause significant hurt and distress to anyone who reads it, particularly survivors and affected communities.

Misinformation in Serba

A mass protest was held on the 23rd of May at Slavija square in Belgrade. In the following days, tabloids and government officials engaged in an ongoing smear campaign against their political/ideological opponents with the aim to discredit the peaceful protests and paint them as extremist and violent. 

President Vučić called the protestors drunk and drugged, stating that they were initiating violence against police. He compared them to the followers of Pol Pot, a Cambodian dictator responsible for a brutal regime and genocide in the 1970s. Once again, the President of the National Assembly, Ana Brnabić, stated that the protestors’ only politics is hatred and that their only aim is to destabilise the country. She also claimed the protests are being controlled by the West, calling the protestors foreign mercenaries. Moreover, tabloids used the students’ critique of N1 for airing Brnabić’s address during the protests as ‘proof’ of their extremism and internal conflict.

On the same day of the mass protest at Slavija square in Belgrade on the 23rd of May, national train services were mysteriously suspended without explanation. Tabloid Informer’s editor-in-chief Dragan J. Vučićević claimed this was because ‘Roma blockaders’ were stealing copper cables. As the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Milan Antonijević appropriately reacted, it is unacceptable to link the entire Roma population to crime, disturbances, or political blockades, because such generalisations deepen biases, foster intolerance, and additionally endanger an already vulnerable, marginalised group. In response to Antonijević’s condemnation, Vučićević stated he doesn’t hate Roma people, that he loves them, and that he merely said that some Roma people and some blockaders steal copper cables – and that this is a fact. By doing so, he reaffirmed his discriminatory rhetoric against Roma people.

Spreading misinformation and hatred towards ethnic communities is unacceptable in all cases. Political leaders and those with an influence and platform should not misuse their power to spread hatred and misinformation to the public – they have a responsibility to the people they represent.