I challenge you to ask ChatGPT what kind of values the UNTOLD festival promotes in its publications. UNTOLD is an EDM music festival that has taken place in Cluj-Napoca every year since 2015. The answer I got is: Diversity and Inclusion, Innovation and Creativity, Community and Solidarity, Memorable Experiences, Responsibility and Sustainability. Sounds good, doesn’t it? It appears to me that it’s a vision of a craft cooperative that, devoid of any form of one-sided interest, does not allow any kind of excessive capital accumulation to take place. By presenting such values I am given the perspective of an association of people for people, a true humanitarian force that seeks to empower the community through social and environmental policies that provide sustainability. It sounds like a beautiful and romantic dream that after much anticipation has finally become a reality. A Walt Disney-style fantasy that has materialized into reality through a harmonious collaboration between a generous mayor, Mr. Emil Boc, and a civic-minded investor, a true young visionary, Mr. Bogdan Bute. Or is it? This seems to be the brand that UNTOLD wants to deliver, but is this actually true?
Recent events make us ask this question with great urgency. Mayor Emil Boc has managed to create the aura of a hero of Cluj, and this status of demigod has a certain constancy and stability through many actions he has taken. We do not want to denigrate the good things he has done for the community. What else could have been done is a whole other discussion. However, the image of the man who managed to save Cluj from the clutches of Gheorghe Funar, who in his extremist nationalism would have painted in the colors of the tricolor anything that can withstand a little glaze, seems to have become very fragile through his repeated mistakes concerning his association with certain bizarre characters. A first example of such a questionable alliance may be his connection with Mr. Sorin Apostu. Through his deeply unethical performance, Mr. Apostu, as mayor of Cluj, has significantly damaged the vote of confidence that Mr. Emil Boc gave him when he supported him as his successor. Unethical performance may sound too polite for the things he was found guilty of, because the charges brought against him, which also led to his prison sentence, were taking bribes, complicity in money laundering in continuous form, complicity in forgery of private documents in continuous form, and such actions speak very explicitly about the moral conduct of this Romanian politician. So, what does this mean? Mr. Emil Boc supported and trusted a man who eventually turned out to be corrupt. More precisely, he trusted Mr. Sorin Apostu before he was exposed as corrupt and his image as an honest civil servant was no longer valid in the public arena. And we trust those who prove to us that they share our interests. We don’t trust those who undermine our plans, that’s an easy point to understand. No one can prove at this point that Mr. Emil Boc is corrupt, but the pressing question is: what made Mr. Mayor Emil Boc trust Mr. Sorin Apostu before his character was exposed and before he had the chance to commit corruption at such a high level? What exactly united the interests of these two politicians of Cluj and what were the values around which they acted as a team?
Recently, Mr. Bogdan Buta was accused of some very obscene things. Two minors as witness and victim claim that Bogdan Buta had a homosexual relationship with one of them during a meeting, arranged through the social network called Tinder. The two boys, now grown up at the time of their public statements, confess that during this little improvised orgy, the great entrepreneur Bogdan Buta opened the evening by dominating the social scene with his series of accomplishments. Thus, he did not shy away from showing off his status as the founder of the Untold festival, but also his power to control the socio-political sphere, a power he acquired through such an achievement. The behavior of this kind can easily be translated as an attempt by Mr. Bogdan Buta to intimidate this group of confused teenagers. It is worth mentioning that in this cheap exercise of seduction in which the two underage boys had to participate, this Duke of Untold, as he also calls himself in the virtual environment, embodied very convincingly the role of a rude upstart, one who is ready to brag to anyone who will waste his time with him. But, at the same time, we can’t deny that the two were willingly carried away by the exotic mirage of a one-night erotic adventure with such a man. However, because we are talking about a major conflict of interest and a legal issue that arose from such a conflict, it is necessary to properly separate the responsibility of the parties involved. It is worth noting that Mr. Bogdan Buta was very expansive in his generosity when it came to the alcohol required to achieve the necessary euphoria, without which you cannot be freed from the critical inhibitions that regulate your social conduct, and the erotic ecstasy intended cannot be consummated. On that tragic evening, all the boys who were present became victims of Mr. Bogdan Buta’s efforts to impose his status and create awe for his financial muscle capital. But one of the boys, the one who caught his eye because he had the body to enact his fantasy of sexual domination, fell victim twice. There is a difference between being psychologically dominated and being sexually dominated, the consequences of such tyranny of force are different in severity. Such kind of sexual behavior, performed with a minor of 16 years of age falls under the charge of Article 220 of the Criminal Code. And that’s because an act of homosexual pedophilia was committed between the two. Stefan the boy who suffered the sexual abuse, and I’m explicitly mentioning his name because he is a person, not just a character in a fictional tragic story, confesses that his subjective perception of the state of narcosis he was under, far exceeded the intensity he felt in the case of a banal drunkenness. This detail raises the hypothesis that Mr. Bogdan Buta administered a drug to Stefan, but there was no consent between them to do so. It is a mere hypothesis, but such a practice is widely used by sexual predators who drug their victims, without their knowledge, using benzodiazepines which have strong sedative, sleeping, and myorelaxant effects. These drugs are called “Roofies” and give the sexual abuser the opportunity to achieve his goal without the victim being able to resist. A real tragedy, isn’t it? But such tragedies are not uncommon in those places where euphoria, sexuality, and drugs meet, for example, a wild one-night party where strangers with unknown intentions are brought together. We don’t want to get paranoid, but where there is no community and interpersonal knowledge, only temporary social homogenization, as is the case at the UNTOLD festival, such assumptions become very plausible. The final detail of this story is that the boys when leaving Mr. Bogdan Bute’s location, took the liberty to steal from the dragon’s lair a few pairs of sneakers and some branded clothes along with a small amount of money. Not long afterward the boys were contacted anonymously by Mr. Bute, threatened with the violent and humiliating recovery of these stolen goods. But then, as he realized the seriousness of his actions, specifically the legal consequences of having homosexual relations with a minor, he began to radically change his approach. He even went so far as to promise a reward for the return of the items under the pretext that those who managed to fool such a big bad wolf deserved a prize. I don’t think the designer clothes represented such a great value to a multi-millionaire, he didn’t need them to cover his inner emptiness. Mr. Bogdan Bute has other forms of power, much more valuable than simple clothes, behind which he can hide much better. For example, we can talk about his notoriety capital, his influence in high political circles, and the enormous sums of money he has rolled in for this festival. But once your image of integrity is shattered, the social label people stick on your forehead becomes almost impossible to peel off. And that ruins your business, especially when there’s so much money involved. And although we know that money does not bring meaning and happiness, but only allows the practical manifestation of these existential values, he who values himself through the money he owns will justify any action necessary to preserve his capital. After this nocturnal slip-up, in February 2021, several other meetings took place between Mr. Bute and the boys. This time, however, not to seek pleasure, but to mediate the possible inconveniences that could arise for Mr. Bute in the event of such a disclosure. The meetings ended with the transaction of 2000 lei from Mr. Bute to the boys (the sucker’s fee for allowing himself to be robbed), but also with the partial return of the stolen clothes. Stefan concludes the interview by confessing that at the present moment, he is forced to administer the drug Propranolol and the supplement Stress Clean, a combination that is used for high blood pressure and anxiety associated with stressful situations.
My goal is not to discredit Mr. Bogdan Bute, I do not wish to incite hatred and ostracization regarding his actions, but to present a fact, a testimony of some who claim to have been victims of his abuse of power, which in this case also involved sexual abuse of a homosexual pedophilic nature. I am not an expert in the analysis of evidence, nor do I have any credentials of an institutional nature to be able to assess in a methodological sense the truth value of the speech of the two witnesses, I am simply a man appealing to common sense. The investigation will go on, things will inevitably surface, even if Mr. Bute finds some legal leverage to get away with it, based on his connections.
Like Mr. Sorin Apostu, who took his legal action all the way to the High Court of Justice and Cassation, trying to evade legal responsibility for his actions, Mr. Bogdan Bute denied everything, but his actions say otherwise. In the press, he declared that the video in which the two boys tell you about their experience is: “the plotted sci-fi scenario presented in the material is just the result of sick minds, blackmailers and criminals of the lowest order,” but he did not delay to resign from the UNTOLD board, in order not to damage the image of the business on whose financial value he built his social status. A man who has justice on his side does not run away and give in to the fugitives but fights with assumption and confidence in the face of public accusations because he knows that the truth is on his side. Here we are not just talking about a matter that strictly concerns the P.R. (public relationship) department of a company, but we are also talking about the moral integrity of a man, a man who should be more than his official position in such a prosperous business. Are we wrong to be so harsh in condemning his actions? Only the legal process will answer that, so what we can say is: we shall see!
Now, after all this exposure of local characters, namely Mr. Sorin Apostu and Mr. Bogdan Buta, we come back to Mr. Emil Boc who, by associating his good name with these two, allowed them to gain credit and influence in the life of Cluj-Napoca. Mr. Emil Boc needs no introduction, he is our everyday mayor and so he still has a word to say from an executive point of view in this city, beyond the fact that he allowed himself at some point to intersect his interests with the two individuals who have been compromised at the level of public image. Of the two, Mr Sorin Apostu has been convicted and there is no further comment on his past actions, and Mr Bogdan Buta is currently in a very bad place, and that is because he is facing some very serious charges, which have led to a criminal legal investigation. I would like to conclude with a question, a question that has been circling through my mind space lately. The question I keep thinking about has to do primarily with the values that UNTOLD promotes in its editions, values that are present in most EDM music festivals, and they are the ones that provide the pseudo-spiritual magic of this kind of experience. And, as I already said in the introduction, they can be summed up by: Diversity and Inclusion, Innovation and Creativity, Community and Solidarity, Memorable Experiences, Responsibility, and Sustainability. Mr. Bogdan Buta, was a man who has been under the protection of Mr. Emil Boc over the years, the two managing to align their interests in a very profitable manner. But Mr. Buta, who is also the main founder of UNTOLD, as I have already mentioned, has not bothered at all to pursue such high values when it came to his private actions. This proves that the values listed above, are nothing but the shiny packaging through which one wishes to sell such an experience under the label of a transformative spiritual process. Marketing, psychological wellness trade, we might add without any embarrassment! But how can someone with such an approach in their personal life conceive and deliver what UNTOLD claims to be? It’s simple, he can’t! But he does this not because he has something real to offer, he does this for the simple reason that it is very profitable. In addition, let’s not forget that Mr. Buta is not in court for the first time, he has already been brought up on charges of forgery, for those interested there is information on the internet about the exciting story that accompanied the emergence of this festival. Mr Buta and Mr Vlad Pop falsified documents when they accessed the European funds needed to launch the first edition of UNTOLD, but the Cluj City Hall, which was the rightful and de facto injured party in the situation in question, chose the path of consent by silence, of perfidious conformity. Therefore, I think it is very obvious that this festival could not have become a possibility without the strong support of the mayor of Cluj Napoca, Mr. Emil Boc. Now, after having interrogated all these new disclosures together with the rest of the information already known in the public space, can we still be enchanted by the aura of savior of Cluj, which Mr. Emil Boc has been wearing for so long, even if he has allowed himself to be associated in his interests with such individuals? Perhaps you still want to keep the spell of this status of Caesar of the people in the right of Mr. Emil Boc. Many choose to believe in this heroic myth, very useful from an electoral point of view when it comes to Mr. Emil Boc’s mayoral career. But as I sought to understand the dramatic spectacle of my city, I became unable to tolerate this modern silly fairy tale. For me, such a sweetening story has no value other than as a plausible scenario for a Disney cartoon.
Let each decide for himself!
Bibliography:
- https://adevarul.ro/stiri-locale/cluj-napoca/video-vezi-cum-l-a-ajutat-emil-boc-pe-sorin-apostu-1143213.html
- https://www.mediafax.ro/social/fostul-primar-din-cluj-napoca-sorin-apostu-condamnat-definitiv-la-4-ani-si-6-luni-de-inchisoare-cu-executare-12901663
- The date rape drug
- https://ziardecluj.ro/patronul-untold-a-abuzat-sexual-doi-baieti-minori-de-15-si-16-ani-detalii-infioratoare-bogdan-buta-face-untold-dubai-intr-o-tara-islamica-pe-15-februarie-cerem-interventia-diicot/
- https://evz.ro/schimbari-dosarul-bogdan-buta-fondatorul-untold.html
- Cluj Police Are Investigating The Crime Of Sex With A Minor After The Untold Founder Was Accused Of Abusing Two Minors. Bogdan Buta’s Reaction |
- https://adevarul.ro/stiri-locale/cluj-napoca/prima-editie-a-untold-finantata-pe-baza-unor-1965840.html
- https://legeaz.net/noul-cod-penal/art-220
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PhGJOq_Ga8
