During the episode of Now or neveraired on Rai 1 February 1st, Donatella rector He made himself the protagonist of an unhappy exit in commenting on the performance of Loredana Error who generated frost in the studio and turned on the controversies on the web.
After the verbal confrontation with Valerio Scanu in the third episode of the program (see here), also this week to make more of the music and the victory of Loredana Errorare the new controversies. And once again, at the center of them, there is Rector.
Now or never again, rector and the alleged racist insult
While he judged the performance of Loredana Errorin a duet with the coach Marco Masini on the notes of Night Of Arisathe Venetian singer -songwriter, in an attempt to compliment, said: “You seemed almost a neg*a“.
The comment immediately caused a reaction to the conductor Marco Liorniwho tried to correct it: “You almost looked like a black voice“. Rector he tried to adjust the shot reiterating: “A black, dark, beautiful voice …“. At that point, the same intervened Loredana Errorunderlining the coach's gaffe: “Definitely a black item, not neg*a. Neg*a is not a beautiful word“.
Liorni tried to close the moment with a: “Vabeh, he ran away“, While Rector insisted:”Black, black. I said a black voice. They are not Aretha Franklin, but nine“.
Despite the explanation, the web reacted with indignation and, in the following hours, rather than on individual musical performances (here Report and report cards of the fifth episode), the attention focused on this unpleasant episode.
The origin and evolution of the contested word
The term used by Rectora word that derives from the Latin Nigercrossed centuries of semantic evolution. Although initially it was neutral, throughout history he hired discriminatory connotationsespecially starting from the period of the deals with slaves and racial segregationwhen the word Neg*o It was used to offend and diminish people based on their ethnicity.
Having said that, it is true that, especially in the musical environment, expression is used “Black voice” To emphasize powerful vocal qualities and rich in shades that have characterized great artists such as Aretha Franlklin, Etta James, Whitney Houson and many others.
Always compliment the “black voices” deriva is equivalent to giving historical and cultural recognition to distinctive vocal characteristics that many African American and Afrodiscendent artists have led to modern music. An expression that does not refer to the skin, but rather to a way of singing that has become iconic thanks to genres such as the gospel, blues, soul, jazz and r & b.
In this case, that “G” too much escaped a Rector he turned on the criticism, above all because the artist has often declared in the past that he did not want to adapt to politically correct. In any case, the same artist subsequently added to the episode: “I put one more, I didn't want to. I love people of all colors “.
The episode aired on Rai 1 He then rekindled the debate on the use of terms related to the history of discrimination, especially in the media and live nationally. Once again, Donatella rector It is located at the center of a controversy linked to linguistic sensitivity and the concept of politically correct.
Now or never more 2025: report, ranking and votes of the fourth episode … Loredana Error wins