Battle Over Women, Pop Star Sinks Magyar Telekom Contract
- Company pulled sponsorship on pop star's comments on women
- Hungarian government reacts by cancelling Telekom contract
A clock tower is reflected in the window of a T-Mobile store, operated by Deutsche Telekom AG, in Vienna.
Photographer: Akos Stiller/BloombergHungary’s government will cancel its mobile Internet subscriptions with the local unit of Deutsche Telekom after the company ended its sponsorship of a pop star who said women should aim to rear children rather than seek pay equal to men.
Magyar Telekom, Hungary’s biggest telecommunication company, said Wednesday comments by Akos Kovacs, known to fans by his first name and one of the country’s most popular pop stars, were “irreconcilable” with its values of gender equality in the workplace. Laszlo Kover, the speaker of parliament, told ruling party lawmakers the same weekend that “the highest level of self-fulfillment for our daughters should be to bear grand-children for us.”