Oláh Ibolya: Fidesz wanted me to be their face, I said no, and they started character assassination to such an extent that I broke down

HVG is one long interview prepared with Oláh Ibolya, reviewing the article:

Oláh Ibolya performed on Kossuth Square on May 9, after the inauguration of Péter Magyar, and sang the song Magyarország for the first time in years – the song she said she would never perform again in 2022. The singer told HVG what she experienced on Saturday and why this moment was personally historic for her.

Oláh admittedly did not believe that the regime change was worth it. On the night of the election, when Fidesz was temporarily in charge, he would have already started packing. It took two weeks for it to really sink in that there had really been a change. At the performance on Kossuth Square – where there were no cordons, no screening – he experienced exactly what he was fighting for: normalcy.

He took a major role in mobilizing the Gypsy communities. His video was viewed by 3.3 million people, in which he did not recommend a party, but encouraged a conscious vote – he especially appealed to those living in segregated villages, to whom no other voice could reach, only M1. One of the reasons for the lack of change, he said, was that these communities had been bullied, bought, and subjected to only one narrative for years.

He spoke candidly about his relationship with NER. They approached him several times – with offers of four to five hundred million forints – to be their “face” to the Gypsy voters. He refused every time.

There was a price for this: when he said no, the character assassination directed against him began. It was spread that he was difficult to handle, aggressive and unreliable. His concerts were cancelled, organizers turned their backs, and his work dried up. All this led to a nervous breakdown – that’s why he disappeared from the public eye. “They made me disappear,” he says.

"Viktor Orbán left home a long time ago, a sociopath who punished us for his childhood grievances.
But I would also like to thank János Lázár, for example, for doing so much for the change of government."

The news of abuse at the orphanage hit her particularly hard, as she herself had been raised in several homes. According to him, the situation has worsened even compared to his time – at least then there were good professionals who prepared them for life. Now this guidance is missing.

In connection with Saturday’s performance, he emphasized: he has not joined the Tisza, and he will not. He would not go to a future party event. What he did was a celebration of a country, not a political engagement. He took the same approach to Péter Magyar’s hug: he expressed his joy for a prime minister who, in his opinion, is neither mentally ill nor a sociopath.

Speaking about his personal condition, he said: he is in the recovery phase. He was weighed down by two burdens – his childhood and the NER. One of them has just fallen and is gasping for air. He is not a star, not an influencer, he is the most ordinary person in the world – he emphasized this several times. He wants to continue to work on a small scale, but to a high standard, to hold song evenings and to remain self-identified.

The final message of the interview: patience. The change has taken place, but accountability and healing – both on an individual and social level – take time.​​​​​​​​