How (not) to interview a porn star
When I told my wife that I was going to meet porn star Milly D’Abbraccio at her apartment the other day, during office hours, with a camera crew, she had the same reaction that my boss did: sounds like a great story. That’s because D’Abbraccio is running for public office, just like Cicciolina did decades ago.
If Cicciolina was known for her impromptu striptease, then D’Abbraccio’s calling card must be her bottom — which she plastered on campaign posters gracing the walls of the Eternal City (see below). Her campaign poster complains that Italians are tired of the same old faces in politics, and uses the Italian swear word for backside to describe what their faces look like.
It’s hard to find the right balance as a journalist when interviewing a porn star for a political story. There was an uncomfortable moment when, cameras rolling, D’Abbraccio started listing her favourite films, which include ”Professoressa di lingue” or Professor of languages (and tongues). I admit, I had to fight very hard to stop from laughing out loud.
A long-time Reuters correspondent who has tossed questions at everyone from Hugo Chavez to Hamid Karzai, I’m used to being deadly serious. But was that same attitude necessary or even helpful in this interview? Did I need to nearly give myself a seizure to prevent myself from laughing? I’m assuming the name of that film was supposed to be amusing.
If you read the Reuters story, you’ll see that D’Abbraccio knows how to have fun when answering stale questions from “serious” correspondents. We’ll see if that skill is enough to get her elected to city hall.
