Do you remember Rita Ora draping herself in Serbian flag? Here's where it ended up

Borivoj Sabo became a national hero after Rita Ora took the Serbian flag from him during a concert (in Hungary), and then carried it around the stage for a whole six minutes.

The singer, who is an ethnic Albanian from from Kosovo and Metohija, often publicly expresses anti-Serb attitude, in favor of Kosovo becoming independent from Serbia. After carrying the Serbian flag, she later apologized, saying she thought it was the Hungarian flag.

Videos from that concert went around the region and almost everyone wondered where that Serbian flag ended up, after Rita Ora "wore" it on stage.

In order to get an answer to that and other questions, our team visited Borivoj in the small town of Lorev (Serbian: Lovra) in Hungary, where he is from. The place has only 500 inhabitants, as many as 90% of whom are ethnic Serbs.

On that occasion, he revealed to us that he wants to put the flag up for auction and that he plans to donate all proceeds to the Serb children in Kosovo.

"For four days I carried it everywhere with me, but now I carry another one. I carry the flag of Serbia everywhere with me, to games, festivals and concerts because that's how I find friends from Serbia. When they see me with the flag, people from Serbia approach me and always say, "How's it going, brother, what's up, let's have a drink' - and that's how we get to know each other.

• Did you know what kind of reactions the spreading of the Serbian flag at Rita Ora's concert would cause?

- I did not know. It's not my fault, because I didn't want to poke at her with the flag, but when she took it from me, I couldn't believe it. I was holding the flag above my head and you can see in the videos that when she approached to take it, I tried to take it back from her.

• Describe to us how it happened that she took the flag from your hands?

- There was a path in front of the audience where the performer can walk and I was standing right in front of that path. She was looking at the flag and came over and took it. Afterwards she said that she thought it was the Hungarian flag, but I don't know how she could have thought that when the two flags don't look similar at all.

• How did you feel when she took the flag and put it on her head?

- I can't say that into the microphone. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. When you think you've seen everything and then Rita Ora comes over and takes the flag of Serbia from your hands and sings with the flag for six minutes...

• How did you react when you saw that the video from the concert went viral?

- I thought, oh God, what have I done.

• Then came the reactions. Many people contacted you on social networks. What kind of messages did you get?

- Thousands of people contacted me. I received messages inviting me to come to Belgrade, that people would take me out to lunch, some were offering me 100 euros, some wrote to say their home is my home, that I should be an ambassador, I received an offer from a beer brand to be sent a crate of beer. People offered me all kinds of things.

• How did you get your flag back?

- She took the flag to the stage and left it there. After the concert, I went to the stage and I showed a guy from her crew the video of her taking the flag from me and pointed to it on the stage, that it was the same one, and that I wanted it given back, which he did.

• All that encouraged you to do a humane deed?

- That's right. I want to help the Serbs living in Kosovo and I will be happy to help someone there. I want to put this flag up for auction and sell it, and I want to give all the money for humanitarian purposes, to sick children in Kosovo.

• Since we know how much the flag of Serbia means to you, we brought you a new, slightly larger one as a gift.

- Thank you very much. Should I put this one on Dua Lipa? (laughs) I'm kidding, I don't think they'll let me enter Albania.

• Are you afraid and have you received any threatening messages?

- I'm not. After the concert I talked to an Albanian and he told me that he doesn't think anything bad about me, he said that it wasn't my fault but he told me that he doesn't love Rita Ora anymore because of she did that.

• Are you planning to go to another of her concerts?

- I know a lot of her songs, but we'll see. I am now the best man of Ristana Oric's (humorous "Serbian version" of the perfomer's name)

• We saw your comment under her post where you jokingly asked her to return the flag to you. Did she maybe respond?

- She didn't say anything, she didn't react.

When we met him, Borivoj was accompanied by his mom Sofija, who did not hide how proud she was of her son.

"It was his idea to sell the flag at an auction. He said to me, 'Mom, I would like this flag to be auctioned and sold, and all the money to go to sick Serb children in Kosovo'. I told him that I would support him in that idea. I think that's really good.

• How did you react when you saw what your son did?

I was very proud. That was very pleasant for me. First he showed me, then I saw on the internet they were saying that 'some boy gave the flag to Rita Ora'. Then I commented in several places to say that he is my son and not some boy. So that people would not think that he is an (ethnic) Hungarian. Then it went naturally and it became a known thing. I was proud. When he came home, I told him, 'Well done son, just so we get Kosovo back."

• Are you planning on coming to Belgrade?

- Of course, when the flag is auctioned off, we will come to hand it over to the new owner and to make sure that the money goes to the right address. I am asking everyone in Serbia to bid so that together we can help our children in Kosovo.

(Telegraf.rs)