‘If the show was cancelled so that they shut me up, that is a big mistake’ – Peppi Azzopardi

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has made a big mistake if it cancelled Xarabank in order to silence him, Xarabank presenter Peppi Azzopardi told The Malta Independent when asked by this newsroom if he thinks one of the reasons behind this decision were his opinions on controversial subjects which did not go down well with a lot of his followers.

Azzopardi revealead in a Facebook post on Friday that his renowned program Xarabank has been removed from the PBS schedule.

While remaining mum on his feelings towards the situation, he explained that Xarabank had never been found guilty of creating an imbalance, collected millions of liri/euros for philanthropic organisations, and won several awards as a current affairs programme, investigative journalism and footage filmed in foreign countries.

The Malta Independent reached out to Azzopardi to get a clearer idea of his opinion on the situation and on the reasons behind PBS’s decision.

Though sounding displeased, Azzopardi said that he will not say anything other than what was written in his post, adding that he will leave it up to the PBS itself to explain seeing that he is only an employee within the service.

Asked if one of the reasons could be that the program has been airing for the past 23 years which leaves room to question if its time was up, he adamantly said that Broadcasting Authority (BA) surveys clearly show that this is not the case.

“This is one of the most popular programs on Maltese Television as the last BA surveys show; there is factual evidence, it is not just my opinion. I do not think the time had come for it to be cancelled because Xarabank was continuously changing.”

He explained that in the past two years, Xarabank had a set that could be manipulated into 9 distinct program formats which shows how it never remained the same throughout the years.

Drawing a comparison with a shop, he asked: “if a shop opens, starts doing well and remains successful for 20 years, does it mean that it has to close down then? The idea that Xarabank should be canceled because it has been active for so long does not make sense. There are multiple programs that have been going on for decades abroad, why should Malta be any different?”

He added that all the teams that have worked with him have their own companies now, showing that Xarabank served as a source of education for a lot of people working in broadcasting.

This newsroom pointed out that the BA surveys he mentioned also show a reduction in viewer numbers over the years and asked if he thinks this was one of the reasons for the PBS to cancel the program, he said that this is something that the PBS has to answer.

“It is true that television following experienced a decrease with the introduction of the internet, but Xarabank had a great following here as well. My personal vlogs used to get over 85,000 views on average, with the latest one getting 111,000 views without any sponsorships.”

This newsroom also asked if he thinks one of the reasons behind the removal was his opinions on controversial subjects. Notably, Azzopardi has been quite vocal with regard to subjects like migration and conditions at prison, but a lot of his audience did not agree with his beliefs.

“If the show was cancelled so that they shut me up, that is a big mistake. I went to prison for my beliefs, got beaten up for my beliefs and no one will ever shut me up.”

Asked if he has any plans to transfer the program onto a different broadcasting station, he said that he has always stood by his idea of not planning the future. “I never plan for the future, I believe in the present and that’s it.”