Producer says Orlauskas made false claims about Ramanauskas

Television producer Haroldas Mackevičius told a court that comedian Artūras Orlauskas made false claims about TV and radio presenter Algirdas Ramanauskas, LRT reported.

The Vilnius City District Court continued hearing a criminal case in which Orlauskas is accused of defaming Ramanauskas. Mackevičius testified that claims that Ramanauskas lost his work at Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) because of alcohol abuse were untrue.

Mackevičius also rejected claims that Ramanauskas failed to learn scripts for TV programmes. He said scripts for the character Ramanauskas played in the show “Dviračio žinios” were written shortly before filming, so performers did not receive them in advance.

The producer said no filming had ever been cancelled because Ramanauskas or other performers arrived apparently drunk or hung over. He said Ramanauskas always notified him in advance when he planned to travel and that any missed filming dates mentioned in court could have been because Ramanauskas was away.

Mackevičius said LRT had essentially made the decision to end Ramanauskas’s involvement, and that he had disagreed with it. He said the decision was related to Ramanauskas’s expression on social media. He later clarified that performers did not have employment contracts for “Dviračio žinios” but were invited to film as needed; in Ramanauskas’s case, another person was chosen to play his character.

Giedrius Jokimavičius, director of Gradientas, the company that films “Dviračio žinios”, also testified. He said he knew nothing about possible dependencies and that Ramanauskas was rarely late for filming, always giving notice when he was.

Prosecutor Renaldas Budrys previously told the court that Orlauskas was charged over comments about Ramanauskas made in an online OpTV programme in November 2024. The prosecutor said Orlauskas had claimed Ramanauskas was dismissed from LRT because of alcohol abuse and that his alleged dependencies disrupted colleagues’ work. Orlauskas denies the charge.