It was labelled ‘defamatory’, ‘insensitive’ and ‘highly inappropriate’ – but a float that was almost banned from carnival will be allowed to take part, after its creators made some changes.

Designers of the controversial float have now started to assemble the tweaked version that will be seen in Valletta this Sunday in the grand parade as part of the five-day celebration. 

The original design had controversially linked Archbishop Charles Scicluna to Ħamrun children’s home Dar San Ġużepp where two priests were found guilty of child abuse in the 1980s and 1990s. 

The float was originally called ‘Jude’s hell’, in reference to Mgr Scicluna’s middle name, and showed him standing outside a building labelled Dar San Ġużepp.

How the carnival float has been changed

“The name of the float was the most offensive part, so that has been removed because it breached the country's defamation laws,” said carnival artistic director Jason Busuttil. 

The carnival float, which depicts clerical child abuse, has had the reference to Dar San Ġużepp removed. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The reference to Dar San Ġużepp has also been removed, after the Catholic congregation running the home described it as malicious and vowed to take all necessary action to stop it from appearing. Several other changes have been made.

The float was originally designed to have the Archbishop flanked by two babies with horns, as well as a sperm cup with the word ‘donations’ written on it. 

Now that cup will have the word ‘censored’ placed across it in Maltese, as will a painting of Jesus Christ. The images of the babies have also been slightly amended.  

The finishing touches are made to the once-banned float. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

“While they will still have horns, they will now be wearing colourful masks in the spirit of Carnival,” said Mr Busuttil. 

And he added that a cake depicting two men holding hands in what seemed to represent the Catholic Church’s attitude to gay marriage has been allowed to remain, despite criticism from gay rights activists. 

“This was quite small, so we weren’t really too worried about it,” said Mr Busuttil.

Controversy versus censorship 

Controversy erupted in January when a sketch of the proposed float was posted on Facebook with a caption that read: “Let children come to me… shhh don’t tell them anything”.

Culture Minister José Herrera had said the float would not be allowed to take part in the festivities unless it was altered. 

The proposal caused outrage over censorship, forcing Festivals Malta to issue a statement saying that it was “a firm believer in cultural and artistic expression and recognises that there should not be any barriers that hinder creativity”.

After several meetings, the compromise was reached between organisers and the float’s designers, Etienne Galea and Rayvin Galea, will now parade in the capital in front of thousands of people.

The sketch of the original float published on Facebook caused controversy.