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| * Jason Kieffer created a short story for Taddle Creek Magazine's Christmas 2009 issue called "Why, Zanta?...Why?...";<ref>http://www.taddlecreekmag.com/contents_christmas_2009</ref> | * Jason Kieffer created a short story for Taddle Creek Magazine's Christmas 2009 issue called "Why, Zanta?...Why?...";<ref>http://www.taddlecreekmag.com/contents_christmas_2009</ref> | ||
| * In July 2012 Jason Kieffer published a full graphic novel about Zanta, titled "Zanta The Living Legend" <ref>http://jasonkieffer.com/zanta/zanta.html</ref> | * In July 2012 Jason Kieffer published a full graphic novel about Zanta, titled "Zanta The Living Legend" <ref>http://jasonkieffer.com/zanta/zanta.html</ref> | ||
| *Tonight I got into a confrontation with an apparently famous (I didn't know this) local man named David Zancai. He was very large and strong. He got onto the subway and started storming around, yelling, doing pushups and roaring, and ranting about how "ladies" and "girls" need to "keep their knees together" and "stop showing their monkey" to men on the subway. He went on for about five minutes about why men shouldn't let their girls out of the house dressed in spandex, and the male pedophiles and rapists and voyeurs wandering among us and how women and girls are responsible for such men's reactions to them and "know what they are doing" when they dress in yoga pants and other tight clothes "because men are only human." He was extremely loud and intimidating and very invasive of others' personal space. | |||
| He then began walking up and down the subway car, dragging behind him a huge banner with a woman's bare legs, commenting on individual women's clothing and appearances and shaming them for anything revealing. He began to repeatedly target a girl who looked about 17 and was dressed in a tight workout outfit, yelling at her and shaming her for how she was dressed, pointing at her groin and breasts and telling her he could "see her monkey." She was clearly very upset by this and kept staring out the window trying not to make eye contact with him or cry. I was horrified at this and looked around at the men to see if any of them were going to respond (most of the women were frozen in anxiety or fear that this guy was going to target them next and were trying not to call attention to themselves). None of them were doing anything. | |||
| Then he went to move toward her and yelled that he was going to take a picture of her and "her monkey", and went to take out his phone. She was so scared and humiliated and began to cry immediately. At this point I got up and walked down the car and stood in front of her to prevent him from taking photos of her. He began yelling at me about "what right do I have to stop him from taking photos" and how "this was for my own good as a woman", and I turned my back to him and began talking to her, asking what stop she was going to, telling her I was going to stay with her and that I was sorry this was happening. He began getting very verbally aggressive with me so I turned and went through a few minutes of yelling back at him to leave us alone and stop acting like an asshole, ignoring him, continuing to block the girl with my body so he couldn't see her, etc. Still no one did anything, other than a couple women close to me telling me not to talk to the man - they were clearly afraid he would come over. | |||
| When we got to the next stop some women told the girl to get out and go to the next car, so while I blocked the man's path to her we moved to the door and she did that. Then began several more minutes of this man verbally harassing me and yelling at me. | |||
| He then came and stood beside me and was clearly going to get out at my stop. We got out, he walked beside me harassing me some more, and then he turned away and I realized that he was following the girl into the next car. He was dragging his large banner behind him on the ground, and since I couldn't make it into the car in time I ran and stood on the end of the banner that was sticking out, blocking the door from closing and giving myself time to get ahead to the next door and cut him off. This angered him a lot. | |||
| I spotted the girl on the car, looking horrified that the man had followed her onto the car. I got in front of her again. The man was storming down the car toward us, continuing to yell, and the girl began to cry again. I began yelling at him repeatedly to "leave her alone and get off the train", and telling others around us that he had been harassing her. Other than one woman who quietly asked the girl if she was okay, no one did anything. This went on for another minute or so until a woman came up to me and quietly told me who this guy was and that he had a long history of bothering people on the subway, had sexually harassed her while she was in her teens, and that he was banned from the subway. | |||
| He ended up getting off one stop before the girl. I stayed with her nearly till the end of the subway line. When we got off, the girl and a few women thanked me for intervening. The girl was clearly terribly shaken up. This entire time, not a single man other than that harasser had said or done a thing. | |||
| At the end of this, I stood and talked with a woman who had watched part of this, and the discussion was really disturbing. She said "I'm glad you helped her, but you've got to admit he has a point. I know she's just young and doesn't know better but hopefully now she has learned her lesson and will carry a wrap with her so she can cover herself up." I said that he was the one who needed to learn a lesson (hopefully that he has no right to police women's appearances, but at the very least that he should keep those views to himself and not harass girls and women), and that that girl had every right to ride the subway with the expectation that she would be treated with basic respect. | |||
| I then headed back on the subway towards home, shaking with adrenaline, realizing how scared I had been the whole time that he was going to hurt me. When I got home I googled the guy and found out that he's a cult figure around the city, has been the subject of a graphic novel, a Vice article, a documentary, etc. He is often talked about like a humorous, kooky, and even endearing person. Unsurprisingly, he has some serious mental health issues due to an accident that left him in a coma, and some serious issues with women probably connected to his girlfriend apparently leaving with their daughter after he became ill (which given the behaviour I witnessed, was probably a good parenting call). He is banned from many places. | |||
| His story sounds like a sad one, with some good lessons for how we as a society deal with mental illness. But that's not my point here. I'm sharing this so that girls and women in Toronto know that this guy's unstable behaviour extends into sexual harassment and that you may very well not be safe around him. I'm sharing it to express my anger that I had to put my own safety in danger to protect that girl, which I have had to do so many times before in similar situations over the years. I'm sharing it to call out all the men who did nothing, not because I expect men to fight him or otherwise live up to some kind of "masculinity" standard, but because I do expect that they will use their privilege and power in a situation like that to, at the very least, ask the girl if she was okay, ask me if I was okay, tell the guy to leave her alone, put their bodies between her and the man, push the alarm strip, take a photo of him for helping her to make a report if she wants to, acknowledge that the situation is even happening, SOMETHING, because it is totally understandable that the women in the situation may be in fear for their own safety in the presence of a man who is aggressively and exclusively targeting them because of their gender. | |||
| == Reception == | == Reception == | ||
Revision as of 22:10, 25 September 2015
| David Zancai | |
|---|---|
 David Zancai posing as Zanta | |
| Born | May 7, 1968 |
| Occupation | Busker |
| Years active | 2000-present |
David Zancai (born May 7, 1968) is a street entertainer from Toronto, Ontario, in Canada. Zancai is known for his character Zanta: a modified Santa Claus who travels the streets of downtown Toronto doing pushups and shouting "yes yes yes" and "Merry Christmess". His costume consists of nothing but shorts, boots, and a red-and-white Santa hat, even during Toronto's winters. He claims to perform this routine every day of the year except Christmas Day, and estimates he does 2,000 to 3,000 pushups per day. In 2000, Zancai fell 25 feet onto a staircase while working as a painter. He entered treatment for schizophrenia at St. Joseph's hospital, having been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder earlier in 2003. Zancai has received mixed responses to his Zanta character, and has been banned from several public areas around Toronto, including the Toronto Transit Commission.
Media appearances
Citytv Toronto
For his first appearance as Zanta, Zancai showed up behind the street window of the CHUM-City Building and began performing. As a result of Citytv using streetscapes as backdrop to live news programming, Zancai was frequently seen in the background of the morning news and entertainment program Breakfast Television. Reportedly aggravated by Zancai's presence, CHUM filed a number of complaints which resulted in Zancai being banned from the area of the building. He violated this order, and as a result police banned him from the area south of College St. to King St., and from Yonge over to Spadina Ave.
Since that time, Zancai has made appearances on Breakfast Television and claims to have a verbal agreement allowing him to make regular appearances on the television series Speakers' Corner.
Documentaries
Zancai has been the subject of two amateur documentary films. In October 2005, graphic artists Muckney Tipping and Pietro Gagliano filmed Zancai describing his life events and motivation to become known worldwide.
Other appearances
- Zancai has attended several Christmas parades, pointing out that "Santa's at the back, while Zanta's at the front."
- Zancai guest-starred in Season 3, Episode 5 (Who Can Lift More Weight With Their Genitals) of Showcase Television's Kenny vs. Spenny as a replacement for Spencer Rice; Rice claimed he was suffering a nervous breakdown during the episode's production.
- Zanta has followed actress Penélope Cruz around Yorkville, trying to get in a photo during the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. He finally was photographed with Cruz and Michael Keaton.
- Zanta is one of the many characters profiled in Jason Kieffer's comic book, "The Rabble of Downtown Toronto".
- Jason Kieffer created a short story for Taddle Creek Magazine's Christmas 2009 issue called "Why, Zanta?...Why?...";
- In July 2012 Jason Kieffer published a full graphic novel about Zanta, titled "Zanta The Living Legend"
Reception
In 2005, Zancai was banned from the downtown core of Toronto following a number of complaints filed by CHUM Limited, owner of Citytv. Zancai's continued desire for fame and exposure resulted in at least one arrest on mischief charges. Zanta has claimed that on August 19, 2006, he was banned from the Exhibition Place grounds, in particular the Canadian National Exhibition, after performing in the Farm, Food and Fun building. On November 17, 2006, 680 News radio reported Zancai had been banned by the Toronto Transit Commission from the city's buses, subways, and subway stations. Zancai is no longer allowed at the Toronto Street Festival, the Taste of the Danforth, the St. Patrick's Day Parade or the Santa Claus Parade. He has also been banned from Old York Lane between Cumberland Street and Yorkville Avenue in Yorkville, College Park, and Dundas Square.
In August 2006, Zancai received a provincial probation order stating that he is "not permitted on any TTC property or vehicle other than surface routes" for two years. Most bus drivers in the city refuse him access to surface routes. Zancai is fighting the ban, with attorney handling his case pro bono. Former TTC Chairman Adam Giambrone acknowledged there is no specific TTC bylaw against doing push-ups on TTC property, but has defended the ban by stating that such behaviour may pose a "serious safety hazard".
Adam Vaughan, a former Citytv reporter and councillor for Trinity—Spadina, has stated that Zancai is "a much-loved character when you don't have to do work around him" but he is nonetheless "probably a public nuisance," and that some people understandably take issue with his behaviour. In an interview with the National Post, Vaughan stated: "Just because you have a right to freedom of speech doesn't mean you have a right to an audience. And when you impose yourself in a public space consistently and without much regard for whether other people can enjoy that public space, boundaries are broached." Zancai's lawyer has responded by saying that Zancai is "entitled to be as strange as he wants to be" and has defended his right to make use of public spaces for doing pushups.
References
- ^ Israel, Samantha (2007-02-17). "The Zanta Clause". The National Post. Retrieved 2007-03-13.
- ^ McLaren, Leah (2005-04-30). "Who is that capped man? Meet Zanta Ho Ho". The Globe and Mail. p. M1. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
- ^ Israel, Samantha (2006-11-17). "Zanta, the 'living legend,' banned from TTC for 2 years: Won't put up with push-ups". The National Post. p. A14. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
- http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/401969/whatever-happened-to-torontos-zanta/
- ^ Burnett, Thane (2005-11-07). "Zanta's claws pulled by a court". The Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
- Muckney Tipping, Pietro Gagliano (2005). Zanta - The Movie (Vimeo). Toronto: .
{{cite AV media}}: External link in|publisher= - Gerson, Jen (2006-09-12). "So close to the stars, yet so far away; Tiny Penelope transfixes crowd Going with the Flow nets no result". The Toronto Star. p. C3.
- Mandel, Michele (2006-09-10). "In search of Brangelina in T.O." Jam! Showbiz. The Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
- http://www.taddlecreekmag.com/contents_christmas_2009
- http://jasonkieffer.com/zanta/zanta.html