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On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, Czech President Václav Klaus has awarded the Medal of Merit, one of the country's highest distinctions to pop star Karel Gott. "Does Gott really merit a medal?" wonders Mladá Fronta DNES on its front page. For the daily, the singer who has now been recognized as a member of the national elite remains a divisive figure.
Many are reluctant to forget that in his heyday, Gott was a party-approved entertainer whose "happy-clappy" songs never once alluded to difficulties under the communist regime. For others, the real damning detail was his support for the regime's campaign against the Charter 77 movement. However, as MF DNES notes, at age 70, Gott remains an idol, "whose popularity has always transcended borders," including the Berlin Wall. For the weekly Respekt, "compared to his boycott of the Lisbon Treaty and his deal making with Russia," the conferring of honours on Gott is the least of Klaus's crimes.
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