A scandal has gripped the Hungarian press over the last two weeks, which first arose when left-liberal Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar was filmed being removed from a Budapest club in a chokehold by bouncers, allegedly for drunken and aggressive behavior, including sexual advances on a number of young women.
While this whole drunken debacle has been covered inside Hungary, there has been a virtual news blackout on the entire incident in the English-speaking press. In fact, multiple searches on Google did not turn up a single article about the incident from a mainstream foreign outlet, which actually appears to be a concerted strategy to keep Magyar’s name clean.
For those residing outside Hungary, here are the basic details:
Magyar entered politics just before the 2024 EU parliamentary elections and was quickly heralded as the man who will take down Viktor Orbán. Shortly after scoring a respectable 30 percent of the vote, he decided to go out partying at one of Budapest’s high-end clubs, Ötkert, only to be dragged out by bouncers in a chokehold.
#Soros Liebling Peter #Magyar belästigt Frauen sexuell und fliegt aus Klub! 🤡 #Budapest pic.twitter.com/b9jN45tYXW
— Ignaz Bearth (@IgnazBearth) June 23, 2024Video of him acting in a drunken manner and dancing with young girls have been spread throughout the Hungarian press, particularly from outlets friendly to the government. Reportedly, Magyar was upset that someone was filming him while he was dancing with the girls in the club, at which point he confronted them, allegedly slapped the person twice in the face, and was thrown out for this action.
The case has also been addressed by anti-Orbán outlets, such as Telex.
Telex notably takes a skeptical tone on Magyar, saying he refused to answer questions about the incident. Of course, there are potential legal complications Magyar must also consider, as Budapest police say they are investigating him for disorderly conduct and other offenses.
“In order to prepare this article, we contacted Péter Magyar via e-mail, and we asked him, among other things, whether he would make these recordings public. We didn’t get an answer,” wrote Telex.
Telex also addresses Magyar’s long Facebook post about the incident, where he claimed a “paid provocateur” working for the Orbán government started the fight that broke out, which led to Magyar being thrown out. However, Telex notes that Magyar has offered no evidence that the man is a paid provocateur and questioned why Magyar deleted his first Facebook post, where he just claimed he wanted to have fun, which was made early in the morning shortly after the incident.
The outlet further wrote: “In addition, it is not known what Magyar is basing the idea that the person who he came into conflict with him was paid to provoke him, it is also not clear what Péter Magyar can mean by the fact that a ‘paid provocateur’ lured him into a trap,” wrote Telex.
Regarding how the conflict started in the club, Telex writes: “We know that, according to witnesses, two groups really got together in the Ötkert, and that Magyar, who — also according to witnesses — was apparently really drunk and was actually videotaped by a male member of one of the groups, so the conflict certainly arose from this.”
The outlet also notes that Magyar chose the club himself and appears to hint that the fight that broke out may have not involved a paid provocateur, but instead occurred organically.
“Magyar went to the location of his own accord, and there would also have been a part of the Ötkert where he could have had fun in calmer conditions. The upper level of the nightclub is more ‘elite,’ so if Magyar wanted to party in a safer place, he could have chosen that too.
There is almost always a younger audience partying on the lower level, so it is not at all unusual that if a famous person shows up there, sooner or later someone starts to videotape him, especially if he behaves differently from what they are used to—- and one of the dancers in one of the recordings shows Magyar crawling between her legs on all fours.”
In addition, Telex notes that the man who was recording Magyar inside the club appears to have gone outside at the same time Magyar was thrown out. Telex refers to a police report, which states: “One of the guests of the nightclub filmed Magyar dancing with the women, who did not like it, and this led to an argument between them. According to the text of the (police) report, Magyar not only took the man’s phone out of his hand, but also slapped the person twice in the face.”
Once outside the club, Magyar reportedly became embroiled in a confrontation with the man, at which time he grabbed the man’s phone and threw it in the Danube River. Telex notes that a police dive team retrieved the phone from the Danube the next morning.
Underage girl harassed?
The scandal has taken a slightly darker turn for Magyar, with allegations from a father who says Magyar sexually harassed his minor daughter.
The claims come from one tabloid which has been central in breaking the stories about Magyar: Ripost.
The father said he had taken his 17-year-old daughters and their friends to the club as a birthday present, which is not unusual, as the club is known as the “teen disco” for the many very young people who attend. The father alleges that Péter Magyar acted as if he could “bring anyone to bed at a moment’s notice and that person should feel honored.”
The father further alleged that Magyar was not showing any boundaries and that the girls on the dance floor became increasingly embarrassed by his dance moves. They tried to stay away from the opposition politician, but he kept approaching them and dancing in an inappropriate manner.
“And then they (the girls) asked me to help,” the man said.
He stressed that the vice-president of the Tisza Party spoke to the girls as if he considered them as some kind of “sex objects,” making a number of “perverted” remarks.
“When I spoke harshly to him, he threatened that his bodyguards would take care of me. He didn’t even care when I told him he shouldn’t talk dirty to underage girls,” the father said.
The man claimed that this is exactly what Magyar said to one of the underage girls: “You’re lucky if you can spread your legs for me.”
The father also alleged that Magyar said: “It’s ok, I like fresh meat.”
The father said that Magyar then slapped a man who recorded the politician’s behavior on his phone. Magyar then forcibly took his phone and threw it into the Danube.
Magyar is the former husband of previous Justice Minister Judit Varga, who served in Orbán’s government. They had a contentious relationship, with the police allegedly called to their residence due to Varga accusing him of physical abuse in a number of highly charged domestic incidents. Magyar released recordings that he secretly recorded involving Varga, which he said contained inside information about corruption in the Fidesz party.
What does it all mean?
Magyar seems to have an incredible amount of baggage involving his ex-wife even before this Budapest nightclub drama. It is clear from all accounts and video footage that he was very drunk and was dancing with young girls. The other details also appear to be corroborated by multiple sources, including him violently confronting a man who was filming the incident, for which he was removed from the club — an event also caught on film.
In short, it does not look good.
Is it possible that Magyar was set up and antagonized by a “paid provocateur” on purpose? It is possible. However, he delivers no evidence to support this claim. Either way, it seems to defy reality why someone with such a public-facing role as the lead opposition candidate in Hungary would decide getting wasted and dancing with young girls at 4:00 a.m. is a sound idea. It is in those wee drunken hours when incidents like this occur, and he is 43 years old.
These types of drunken moments of mayhem happen nearly every weekend, but when it happens to someone as high profile as Magyar, there are of course going to be political consequences — at least in theory.
Let us just imagine that Orbán decided to go out clubbing at 4:00 a.m., got into a bar fight, danced with underage girls, and was thrown out in a chokehold by bouncers.
The international press would gorge on the story for weeks. Orbán would likely have to resign. Every person deserves a personal life, and Magyar can get as drunk as he likes in private company, but he is arguably one of the most famous political figures in Hungary at this current time. It seems like a serious rookie mistake — whatever happened.
He does have two trump cards though.
One is his European Parliament immunity, which means he cannot be prosecuted.
The other trump card is that the international press wants Orbán removed at all costs, so they are not going to do much with this story. Left-wing European politicians are already ignoring the allegations and much of the Hungarian press is taking the allegations in stride.
In short, it looks like so far, Magyar is too important for the left to throw him under the bus. The story could eventually get legs though depending on what new information arises.
However, allegations that Magyar made statements like, “You’re lucky if you can spread your legs for me,” and “It’s ok, I like fresh meat,” seem far-fetched. Anything is possible, but the leading opposition figure making statements like that seems too cartoonishly villainous. There are supposedly more recordings that have not been made public yet. In fact, Magyar himself claims that he has recordings proving all the allegations against him to be false, yet Telex notes he has not released anything of the sort.
It will be interesting to see if Magyar’s rising star takes any hit whatsoever from the allegations. It is very possible this scandal may not sink him at all, as those who hate Orbán will simply choose not to believe it. The left is counting on that.
