SVT is criticized after the artist David Ritschard collapsed in “Allsång på Skansen’s” live broadcast.
– A lot can happen in live broadcasting and it was handled very professionally, says SVT CEO Hanna Stjärne.
It was in Tuesday’s broadcast of the popular “Allsång på Skansen” that artist David Ritschard collapsed just before he was to sing together with the audience. When he was interviewed by the presenter Pernilla Wahlgren, he seemed to sway and flinch before collapsing on stage.
Criticism
The fact that the broadcast continued has attracted criticism. In a column, for example, Gothenburg Post’s Johan Lindqvist criticizes the fact that Ritschard was allowed to perform at all:
“Of course, SVT would never have released him in front of the audience and cameras. I don’t want to see another artist being burned in the spotlight. SVT’s staff on site would have really had better control. It is their responsibility to take care and check by his artists,” he writes.
SVT’s CEO Hanna Stjärne was herself in the audience when the incident occurred.
– I myself sat in the audience in the rain and saw what happened. I was very taken by it, of course. But I also saw that he was very well cared for. And we know that he is doing well now, she says.
Stjärne says that she herself did not take part in a possible discussion about whether the program would be cancelled.
– Even if you are CEO and sit in the rain at Skansen, you are not part of such a discussion. And Pernilla got information that he was okay. A lot can happen in live broadcasting and it was handled very professionally, she says.
Quick notice
Haida Jamshidi, press officer for the program, writes in an email to TT that the broadcast was able to continue thanks to being quickly informed that David Ritschard was okay. She also writes that he is “okay under the circumstances” and that production is being monitored:
“We had time to talk to a large part of the production yesterday and will continue during the day to check how everyone is doing and if we can do anything,” she writes.
David Ritschard started out as the frontman of the folk music group Spinning Jennies. The solo debut “Brobrännaren” came in 2019 and in 2021 he was praised for the sequel “Blåbärkungen”.