Weeks before the Velvet Revolution, a birthday message to dissident Václav Havel, then imprisoned, surprisingly appeared in *Rudé právo*, a newspaper of the Communist regime. The text was successfully smuggled past censorship by writer and dissident Petr Rýgr. Havel later described the message as a turning point in the transition to democracy. However, Rýgr maintains it was merely a playful act. The story was discussed in an interview conducted by Pavel Navrátil on the program *Studio 6*. The incident highlights a subtle crack in the repressive system of Czechoslovakia prior to the fall of communism.