Salvini attacks Richard Gere for his appeal on migrants: "Radical chic who lives in luxury"
Quick Look
- Transport Minister Matteo Salvini harshly criticized the actor Richard Gere for a video published in support of Action Aid, in which he calls for migration management that respects human rights.
- Salvini defined him as "radical chic" and recalled Gere's failure to testify at his kidnapping trial.
- Gere denounced the replacement of compassion with fear in the treatment of migrants, citing repatriation centers in Albania and CPR data in Italy.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Matteo Salvini, then Minister of the Interior, had adopted the "closed ports" policy against NGO ships rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean. Richard Gere had planned to testify against him in a kidnapping trial, but the testimony never happened. Action Aid has published a report on CPR in Italy, showing a decline in entries but also inefficiencies in repatriations.
Matteo Salvini hasn't really forgiven Richard Gere. The active support for NGO ships during the season of closed ports could have also been archived, but the testimony, later skipped, at the trial in which he was accused of kidnapping, could not. For this reason, the current Minister of Transport did not hesitate for a moment to respond to the video that the well-known actor shot in support of Action Aid, to ask that migration be "managed without inhumane conditions, without weakening the right to asylum and without treating human rights as obstacles".
For Salvini, "an attack on Italy and Italians". So much so that it deserves a shout-out on social media. "Dear radical chic who lives in luxury, continue to be an actor (and a good one) but avoid giving unsolicited lessons to Italians", writes the minister on social media, branding Richard Gere as "the rich gentleman who had to testify against me to send me to prison because I had closed the ports to illegal immigrants".
In the morning, Action Aid, which a few days ago released a detailed report on costs, abuses and violations of human rights in CPR and repatriation processes, published a video in which the actor raises the alarm: "Fear is replacing compassion. People are reduced to numbers, problems or threats. Detention, deportation and sending people across European borders are increasingly presented as normal solutions".
Migrants, Richard Gere's appeal. "Let's defend our common humanity. Let's not do like Italy"
Albania, with the centers of Shengjin and Gjader, explains Gere, has led the way in models that could be even worse, "beyond the borders of the European Union and far from the control of public opinion". With questionable results, Action Aid denounces in its report. In 2025 - emerges from the study conducted with the University of Bari - entries into the CPR reached a record of 6,835 people, but only 25.3% were actually repatriated. Compared to 2022 they decreased by 45.1%. Translation, people have ended up in the repatriation centers who should never have entered them.
"Migration can be managed without inhuman conditions, without weakening the right to seek asylum and without treating human rights as obstacles", says Gere who concludes with an appeal: "We are all migrants. Let us defend our common humanity while there is still time".
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The debate on migration policies in Italy will continue with new exchanges between the government and entertainment actors
Likely · Within weeks
Open Questions
- Why didn't Richard Gere's testimony at Salvini's trial take place?
- What are the specific conditions in the Shengjin and Gjader centers in Albania?
- Does the Italian government foresee changes to the closed ports policy?
