"Kanal K"
- Artist/Author/Producer: Telefe network
- Confronting Bodies: Pedro Simoncini and Bishop Desiderio Collino
- Dates of action: 1989
- Location: Argentina
- Description of the Art Work
- "Kanal K" is a television comedy with puppets performing parodies of
political and religious figures. The specific episode that sparked
controversy was one in which a puppet of Pope John Paul II used foul
language, specifically "va fangullo" ('fuck you' in Italian.)"
- Description of incident
- Pedro Simoncini, president of Telefe in Argentina, the network on which
the program "Kanal K" was aired, was offended by this incident. He
received complaints from many people, including a letter from Bishop
Desiderio Collino expressing outrage at the sacrilege.
- Results of incident
- The network was forced to pay over a million dollars in fines. Simoncini
had the show taken off the air. He took various measures to publicly
express his surprise and dismay over the incident, including apologies to
the Catholic Church and to the viewing public.
Source: Leon Ferrari