¿Por qué no te callas?

¿Por qué no te callas? (Spanish pronunciation: [poɾˈke no te ˈkaʎas], English: "Why don't you shut up?") is a phrase that was uttered by King Juan Carlos I of Spain to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, at the 2007 Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, Chile, when the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela's President Chávez was repeatedly interrupting Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's speech. The phrase became an overnight sensation, gaining cult status as a mobile-phone ringtone; spawning a domain name; a contest; T-shirt sales; a television program; and YouTube videos.

At the meeting on 10 November 2007, Chávez repeatedly interrupted Zapatero to call his predecessor, José María Aznar, a "fascist" and "less human than snakes", and accuse Aznar of having supported a failed coup d'état aimed at removing Chávez from power. Zapatero had earlier irritated Chávez by suggesting that Latin America needed to attract more foreign capital to combat its "chronic, deepening poverty", and claimed that Chávez's policies scared investors out of Latin America.

Chávez's attacks became so strong that Zapatero rose to Aznar's defence, even though he had been severely critical of Aznar in the past. Zapatero pointed out that Aznar had been democratically elected and was "a legitimate representative of the Spanish people".

Although organizers switched off Chávez's microphone, he continued to interrupt as Zapatero defended Aznar. Juan Carlos leaned forward, turned towards his fellow head of state, and said, "¿Por qué no te callas?" The king's rebuke received applause from the general audience. He addressed Chávez using the familiar form of "you". (In Spanish, tú is usually used in informal chat, among young people or when addressing close friends, family, or children, and can be perceived as insulting when used in other circumstances.) Shortly thereafter, he left the hall, when Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused Spain of intervention in his country's elections and complained about the presence of Spanish energy companies in Nicaragua. The incident was unprecedented, as never before had the king displayed such anger in public.

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Wikipedia