Children Paying Pensioners: CT Hynek Čermák’s Fee Solution

In recent days, a dispute flared up between a part of the artistic community and the Minister of Culture Oto Klempíř (for the Motorists), which resulted in a public meeting in a Prague theater. There, the artists prepared a space for an open debate and symbolically reserved a place for the minister, who, however, did not show up and repeated that he preferred meetings at the ministry.

For the artists, it was primarily a transparent public discussion about the direction of cultural policy, funding of culture and the relationship of the state to the artistic community. Part of their concerns were also the planned changes regarding the financing of public media, especially the issue of concession fees for Czech Television and Czech Radio. A part of the cultural scene warned that the eventual abolition of fees and the transfer of funding to the state budget could weaken the independence of public service media.

One of the initiators of the invitation, actor Hynek Čermák, publicly criticized the minister for his non-participation and called it a missed opportunity for open dialogue. In an interview for Seznam Zprávy, Čermák later stated that if Minister Klempíř does not arrive for their meeting at the Palace Theatre, he will contact the Prime Minister.

On the show Events, commentswhere Hynek Čermák spoke on the topic, specified that he has not yet contacted Andrej Babiš (ANO), but is thinking about it. At the same time, he explained why he refuses to act at the Ministry of Culture. “Colleagues Aleš Cibulka and Michal Jagelka were there, but by the way, there was no transparent transmission. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid,” said the actor, adding that the minister had promised that the debate at the ministry would be public, but that did not happen.

He also rejected the opinion that he would have an open dispute with the Minister of Culture Oto Klempíř. “I definitely wouldn’t call it a dispute. As a citizen of a democratic society, I have the right to refuse any invitation,” added Hynek Čermák.

According to him, the Motorists should not run the department of culture. “In my opinion, people do not deserve to be represented by someone in such a way as the Motorists do to themselves. No one deserves to have ministerial seats represented by people who, on the contrary, show a lack of empathy, a lack of desire for dialogue and a lack of decent behavior,” the actor emphasized.

The head of the Department of Culture, Oto Klempíř, also emphasized that he wants to abolish concession fees, among other things, so that senior citizens and seniors do not have to pay 200 crowns a month. In response, Čermák indicated that he does not consider this argument to be a sufficient reason to change the system of financing public media. “I have no indication that his motivation is different, but I think that 200 crowns a month for seniors can of course be a lot, but those seniors usually have some children and they are happy to give them, in my opinion, the money, and they will take care of them, because the Czech Republic is full of people who take care of each other,” he emphasized that, in his opinion, the issue of social sensitivity can be solved in other ways.

According to Hynk Čermák, it is not right to transfer the funding of public media directly under the state budget, and he explained where he sees the possible risk of such a step. “For example, I am interested in reporting. The independence of Czech Television or Czech Radio is that we, the voters, pay for it, that we make the decisions and give them the money, and in return we receive independent journalism. I don’t know if this will actually in any way affect the artistic creation of, for example, Czech Television or Czech Radio. In any case, it could happen that the artistic creation would start to be guided by the market, which I think would be the biggest trouble for the culture,” the actor shared his concerns.

Cibulka and Jagelka let it be known that, from the negotiations with the Minister of Culture so far, they feel that concessionary fees are not even one of the options that the government is considering in the future. When asked if Čermák could imagine another acceptable form of financing public media than concession fees, he said the following: “I don’t know the other three variants, which are probably instead of concession fees, but from what I know from Aleš Cibulka’s statement, the fees work relatively well.”

A video of Hynk Čermák with his statement that if the seniors do not have 200 crowns for fees, the family can pay them the amount, began to spread on social networks X and caused considerable criticism. Many called his words completely detached from reality. “Mr. Čermák suited himself to be the new minister of culture. Superhumans, elite, artists, the correct, decent, moral beacons, those dudes,” threatened one of the users of the platform.

Hynek Čermák on concessionaire fees.

So like this: “If seniors don’t have CZK 200 for terminal fees, their children will surely be happy to provide them”.

Mr. Čermák fit the bill as the new Minister of Culture. The superhumans, the elite, the artists, the proper, the decent, the moral beacons, the dude??‍>? pic.twitter.com/I7dWhDWwU2

— Majkl from Teplice ???? (@FialovaD) February 12, 2026

The tension between Hynk Čermák and representatives of the Motoristé se movement also escalated in connection with the statement about alleged threatening messages from Foreign Minister Petr Macinka. Čermák in an interview for DVTV stated that Macinka should have written him a message with the content that “artists like me will crawl on their knees, ask for money and die of hunger”, and added that he considers the appointment of a representative of the Motorists to head the Ministry of Culture to be a mockery.

Macinka subsequently denied sending any SMS and publicly stated: “I have never texted this deserving artist (I don’t even have his number). He should study his script better next time.” he wrote in response on Facebook. Čermák later specified that it was not a classic SMS, but a communication on a social network, and apologized for the inaccurate wording.

Filip Turek, the chairman of Motorists, also became publicly involved in the whole case. He wrote on his Instagram to a photo of the actor: “We will rid you of subsidies and the public law trough. We will not succumb to the attempt to turn us into a raging mob!!!!!” However, according to the media, the dispute continued even in a private conversation between Cermák and Turk. Allegedly, Čermák wrote in it that he has no subsidies or public law fund, to which Turek should have replied with an allusion to the alleged “paid campaign”.