Did the mayor of Zadar, Branko Dukić, ban a concert of popular Serbian pop-folk singer Aleksandra Prijović in the Croatian city? No, that's not true: After the news of his alleged ban on Prijović's concert in Zadar spread in the Croatian and Serbian media, Dukić promptly denied it in a public statement as false.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok by @vucica933 (archived here) on February 13, 2024, under the title, translated from Croatian to English by Lead Stories staff:
Well done, Branko Dukić!
Captions read, as also translated by Lead Stories staff:
The Mayor of Zadar has banned Aleksandra Prijovic's concert.
That's how you love your homeland.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Feb 19 13:09:38 2024 UTC)
TikToker @zaborvaljeni_sinovi_rata (archived here), who posted a video (archived here) with the same caption, "Bravo Zadar," on the same day, also came out in support of Zadar's ban on the Serbian singer's concerts.
The ban was first reported on February 12, 2024, by the most widely read Croatian web portal Index (archived here). According to the article on Index, the concert was supposed to take place in May 2024 in the SC Višnjik (archived here). Index reported, as translated by Lead Stories staff, that Zadar's mayor expressly refused to have a Serbian star sing in the city, so the concert was not scheduled or announced: "Index learns from a confidential source from Zadar that Dukić turned down the concert's organizers and justified it by claiming that 'there are no free dates' in the Krešimir Ćosić hall (archived here). The mayor of Zadar did not respond to Index's inquiries, and neither did the hall's management. Extra FM radio, which is the concert organizer, has no comments."
However, a few hours later, on February 12, 2024, the local portal Zadarski (archived here) published a written statement from Mayor Branko Dukić (archived here) regarding the alleged ban on Aleksandra Prijović's concert in the city's concert hall. After sending a request for comment, Lead Stories received on February 16, 2024, the same statement from his press office, which read, as translated from Croatian to English:
We live in a free society where everyone listens to the music they want. I am against any ban, and I am surprised by such fabrications in certain media. I do not organize concerts, and I do not understand why there is such a fuss about it. SC Višnjik's management and business policy independently decide on the program and commercial content, including those I do not like. I am not a fan of that music, nor would I attend such a concert, and that's all I have to say about it.
The alleged ban on Aleksandra Prijović's Zadar concert became viral the day before her first performance of five sold-out concerts in another Croatian city, Osijek. After the first concert on February 13, 2024, during her press conference, Serbian media RTV Pink asked her to comment on the case involving Zadar's mayor. Aleksandra Prijović responded (archived here), translated from Serbian to English by Lead Stories staff:
From what I have seen in the statement, there is no prohibition. I think everything is fine here, and I hereby greet the mayor, even though he said that he does not listen to this type of music. If he changes his mind, he is welcome to the concert.
Aleksandra Prijović filled the Zagreb Arena five times (archived here) in December 2023. From February 13 to 18, 2024, there were five concerts in Osijek (archived here) as part of her tour titled "From East to West" across Croatia. At the time of writing, Prijović had not scheduled any performance at the Višnjik in Zadar (archived here). However, after Osijek, she announced concerts in other Croatian cities - Rijeka (archived here) and Varaždin (archived here).
