Slovak actress Zuzana Zlatohlávková stars with our neighbors. Despite the fact that she works in the Czech Republic, she is not indifferent to the cultural situation in Slovakia. Already in the past, she sharply attacked the Minister of Culture, Martina Šimkovičová. This also happened in the Czech podcast moderated by . Until recently, the presenter worked at Czech Television.
In the interview, the actress recalled her acceptance speech at the awarding of the Czech film awards Český lev, when she won the award in the category of best actress in a leading role in a series. “I’ll just ask the management not to play our new Soviet, excuse me, Slovak anthem, it’s not necessary. It’s the way it is” she said in March 2025. For these words, she received a big round of applause and thanked her loved ones.
The Department of Culture came up with a new version of the anthem, it was played in Slovakia in the first seconds of 2025. The adaptation was prepared by the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic in cooperation with the Slovak Philharmonic. The author of the arrangement is Slovak composer, conductor and producer Oskar Rózsa.
Zlatohlávková mentioned the minister’s media scandal with our neighbors. “Well, speaking of Jánošík, hey, our Mrs. Šimkovičová actually preaches the costumes slowly so that we go to work in them. And the interesting thing is that when she came to Terchová, where Jánošík is said to have been born, and where there is a very important folklore, music and theater festival every year, the people in this village booed and booed her. But in a really big way, which probably didn’t appear in the Czech media for sure, so she canceled the festival“, she let herself be heard.
The actress was referring to the Jánošík Days international folklore festival in the village of Terchová, which was held from July 31 to August 4, 2024. The presence of the Minister of Culture among the audience was not a great success. “I would prefer to welcome each and every one of you personally, but apparently you didn’t come here. So, with permission, I will mention at least two important guests who honored us with their visit. The Minister of Culture of the Slovak Republic, Martina Šimkovičová, is sitting in the audience,” said the presenter, what for immediately the audience began to whistle.
A similar embarrassment was experienced by the Minister of Culture later in July 2025, when she participated in the opening of the Východná Folklore Festival. At the oldest and most extensive event in Slovakia in the field of traditional culture, folklore and folklorism, the head of the department did not receive a warm welcome. Spectators after its launch they started whistling and shouting words like “Yuck!” and “Shame!”.
After the beep, another unpleasant moment for Šimkovičová followed. Folklorist Lucia Nogová, who was also one of the organizers of the folklore protest in front of the Ministry of Culture in April 2025, started singing and others joined her. “I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid of the master,” sounded from the viewpoint.
Moderator Nora Fridrichová mentioned the mistake of the Minister of Culture, when she came to the Východná Folk Festival in 2024 in a costume, which she supplemented with platform sandals and left her hair down. “She walks in global brands of designers who fall into the LGBT group, which she would execute. That’s another hypocrisy and paradox. It’s interesting, isn’t it? From head to toe from gay designers, lesbian designers. She doesn’t mind.” Zlatohlávková criticized her.
