'Slaughter Nick for President' a human rights win

The approach of Easter had me in a kind of contemplative mood, so I finally got around to seeing a documentary I'd first heard about when it debuted in 2012, but which, for whatever reasons, I simply never managed to watch at the time, until I found it on Amazon Prime Video.

It's a story for the ages, as an oppressive despot wages war in Eastern Europe, and a decidedly unserious actor suddenly becomes the unlikely voice of an opposition movement fighting for freedom.

While it has parallels to comedian-turned-president Volodymyr Zelenskyy becoming the Winston Churchill of Ukraine in the face of Vladimir Putin's invasion, "Slaughter Nick for President" presents an even more absurd, and yet equally true-to-life, sociopolitical scenario.

From 1991-93, as I was completing my last three years of high school, a Canadian actor named Rob Stewart was starring in what would turn out to be the most notable role of his career, as a ponytailed beach bum private eye named Nick Slaughter in the series "Tropical Heat," which aired as "Sweating Bullets" in the United States on CBS, prior to David Letterman's talk show migration from NBC.

Nick Slaughter was a smart-aleck tough guy who wore his Hawaiian shirts open to display his hairy chest, while solving cases in the fictional resort town of Key Mariah, Florida, and making love connections with a succession of guest stars.

It wasn't heady material, but Stewart elevated its formulaic stories with his handsome charm, and with a wisecrack and a wink, he helped turn each hourlong episode into a brief vacation for viewers' brains, so they could forget their troubles and cares in a make-believe beachside paradise.

After it was all done, Stewart chopped off his slicked-back ponytail and returned to the life of a working-class Canadian actor, which ultimately relegated him back to the basement of his parents' home in his 40s.

It wasn't until after Stewart had turned 47 (the same age I am now) that he discovered, in December 2008, how his former alter ego had been leading a double life as a cultural hero to some Serbs who participated in the 1990s rebellion against their ruler, Slobodan Milosevic.

With a United Nations trade embargo imposed on Serbia, the entire run of "Tropical Heat" was broadcast on four of its TV stations in succession, from 1992-97. Not only was its idyllic setting seen as a welcome retreat from, and contrast to, their landlocked, tumultuous tyranny, but the easygoing character of Nick Slaughter was embraced by many of the country's youths, first as an ironic role model, then as a symbol of their subversive, anti-authoritarian spirit.

This pre-internet meme spread from graffiti in the Belgrade suburb of Zarkovo, proclaiming, "Nick Slaughter, Zarkovo hails you," to the monthslong winter protests of 1996-97, against the election fraud perpetrated by Milosevic and his party, when the slogan "Nick Slaughter for President" became common on banners and badges.

Before Milosevic finally resigned in 2000, the Serbian punk band Atheist Rap even paid tribute to the fictional hero with a song named in his honor, with the graffiti-inspired chorus "Nick Slaughter, Serbia hails you," on their 1998 album.

Years after all this real-world history, Stewart's online correspondence, with the Serbian fans he'd never known he had, quickly led to the coordination of a two-week trip to Serbia in June 2009, which became the basis for the documentary "Slaughter Nick for President," made by Stewart and his friends, Marc and Liza Vespi.

Rob Stewart himself comes across as affable and humble, with a self-deprecating sense of humor, as he comes to terms with the absurdities of his nationwide fame in Serbia. At one point, he hawks black market electronic goods in a floating plastic bubble for a TV commercial (no, it doesn't make any more sense in context), which makes him entirely sympathetic as he revels in a level of celebrity he's never experienced before.

At the same time, Stewart demonstrates enough empathy to interview members of the anti-establishment news media and protest movements who routinely risked their lives to do whatever they could to undermine Milosevic's regime.

It's an almost ridiculous juxtaposition to have a veteran radio broadcaster from that era casually acknowledging how many of his colleagues got killed by the state for doing their jobs, all while he's offering praise to the inspiration provided by an actor who was safely on the other side of the world.

On a more lighthearted note, when Stewart speaks to the broadcasting executive who brought "Tropical Heat," to Serbia, he learns that "Baywatch" had been considered for that same slot, given its global popularity at the time, but the Serbian executive chose "Tropical Heat" because Stewart, who was more hirsute and swarthy than David Hasselhoff, reminded the man of his next-door neighbor.

Stewart is told, more than once, that he could pass for Serbian, due to his appearance.

Not only did "Nick Slaughter" also become a nickname for a hairy chest in Serbia, but midway through Stewart's tour of the country, he's joined by his adoptive brother, whose birth parents hailed from Serbia.

Before Stewart's sightseeing tour of Serbia has concluded, it's become such an internationally significant affair that an official government ambassador of Canada has joined him, to help him plant a Canadian maple tree in Zarkovo, where the "Nick Slaughter" meme and nascent political movement arguably began.

After being cheered for unbuttoning his shirt on game shows, and visiting Serbian riverside cafes decorated to evoke the tropical "Key Mariah spirit," the real-life Nick Slaughter fittingly celebrates his pilgrimage to the country that loves him best, by joining the band Atheist Rap in a rousing round of "Nick Slaughter, Serbia Hails You," with Stewart playing bass guitar.

Pop culture critics often correctly note that ordinary people have a tendency to get caught up in trivial entertainment to the detriment of getting involved in more meaningful political discourse and activism, but what's beautiful about "Slaughter Nick for President" is that it shows how everyday folks can be inspired to undertake globally significant, self-sacrificing acts of heroism by even the least serious of role models.

Stewart himself confesses, before the closing credits, how he'd spent most of his life feeling ashamed of his most prominent starring role as an actor, until his visit to Serbia made him realize that even the most seemingly minor of deeds can echo through history.

For all of us who have dreamed of being heroes, and who see our real-life selves as falling short of those lofty dreams, it's important to be reminded that what we do matters, even when it's simply providing others with the comfort of a goofy good guy who's on their side, and an open seat from which to watch the setting summer sun.

In the words of another Serbian political slogan, "Every mother should be proud to have a son like Nick Slaughter."

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
[email protected]