Presidential gaffe

last updated 8 January 2015

Bucharest, Romania

Romanian President Traian Basescu apologized this week for calling a reporter a “stinky Gypsy.” The reporter, Andreea Pana, cornered Basescu in a supermarket last week and asked him about the vote taking place that day on whether to impeach him for alleged constitutional abuses. Basescu snatched Pana’s cell phone, which she was using to film the interview. After the device was returned hours later, Pana discovered it had recorded a later conversation between Basescu and his wife, in which he let fly with racist insults against the journalist. Basescu easily survived the impeachment attempt. Gypsy activists have begun wearing T–shirts that say “Stinky Gypsy.” Gypsies are an ethnic minority who generally prefer to be known as Roma, but lately they have been embracing the name they once regarded as a slur.