Can Bar Refaeli quash the feud with her Eurovision co-host?
Assi Azar pledges to donate his salary from event to LGBT youth organization
By AMY SPIROUpdated: FEBRUARY 6, 2019 00:58Bar Refaeli and Assi Azar(photo credit: EYAL NEVO/DANIEL KAMINSKY)
There will be plenty of dramatics and tension at the Eurovision in Tel Aviv this May. But hopefully that won’t include any squabbling between two Eurovision co-hosts: Bar Refaeli and Assi Azar.Refaeli and Azar were once close friends, but have not spoken in at least five years, after a serious altercation between the two. Azar originally wrote his hit sitcom The Baker and the Beauty (which was picked up by Amazon and will be remade for ABC) with Refaeli in mind for the lead role. But Refaeli ended up skipping out on the gig, and while Azar replaced her with actress and model Rotem Sela, he never forgave Refaeli for abandoning the show.During an interview with the show Good Evening with Guy Pines on Monday, Refaeli said she hopes the pair can move forward with their relationship.“I have nothing against this guy, the opposite, I’m cool with him,” she said. “Apparently he has some problems with me, but we’ll have to work them out.”The supermodel said considering all the time they’ll be spending together as the Eurovision approaches, “he’ll have to work with himself on figuring out how to get over problems from the past.” Refaeli said she “just read in newspapers about the problems he has with me, I never heard from him about them face to face.”With the Eurovision a little over 100 days away, “I guess we’ll have to have some sort of conversation,” Refaeli added, “where he tells me what happened to him, and where I point out that a long time has passed.”Azar did not publicly respond to Refaeli’s remarks. But separately on Monday, the Eurovision co-host and popular TV personality announced he would be donating his salary for the hosting gig – NIS 105,000 – to the LGBT youth organization Israel Gay Youth (IGY). “IGY, Israel Gay Youth, is a second home for young gay teens in Israel,” Azar wrote on Instagram. “And their only way to exist is through donations! This year they need to raise more than a million shekel in order to continue serving our youth, the next generation. Therefore I decided to donate all of my salary from hosting the Eurovision this year – NIS 105,000 – to IGY!”Azar then urged his followers to also donate to the organization. The TV host, who married his husband, Albert, in 2016, is also the host of Hakochav Haba (Rising Star), the show which selects Israel’s Eurovision contestant. Later on his Instagram story, Azar joked that “you could actually say that you guys donated,” since his salary comes from the publicly funded KAN.And Azar told his followers on Tuesday morning that “IGY just updated me that you bombarded them with donations yesterday! You are kings and I love you a ton!”
