Italian actor, attacked with a knife after pretending he was Romanian

Joi, 5 martie 2009, 9:08 English | Regional Europe

"It is a delicate moment", said Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno on Wednesday, after watching the footage broadcast by an Italian TV station, showing an actor pretending to be Romanian being attacked with a knife by a local asked for a cigarette. Italian actor Paolo Calabresi recorded the moment for the "La iene" TV show, the HotNews.ro correspondent in Italy, Miruna Cajvaneanu, reports.

Wearing a soccer fan t-shirt and used pants, Calabresi used a Romanian accent to ask an Italian for a cigarette. The very next moment, he had a knife at his throat, the Italian press reports.

The "La iene TV show is quite controversial in Italy. One of the most controversial stories in the show was filmed in Bucharest, presenting Romania as a country of homeless, drug-addict children. The question at the end of the film was "Is this a country worth of being accepted in the European Union?".

The same show reported on the illegal sale of human organs in Romania, interviewing a Romanian doctor. The doctor issued a protest, claiming that his statements were cut and re-interpreted.