It comes after the Russian President said that he thought pursuing policies that embrace multicultural and sexual diversity are obsolete.
Elton John has called out Vladimir Putin, saying that recent comments he made about the LGBT community feel “like hypocrisy to me.”
In a social media post, John said that he was “deeply upset” by the Russian President’s interview with the Financial Times in which he said liberalism “must not be allowed to overshadow the culture, traditions and traditional family values of millions of people.”
While claiming he was “not trying to insult anyone” and wanted to “let everyone be happy,” Putin said that “some things do appear excessive to us.”
Responding to Putin’s comments, John yesterday (June 28) shared an open letter to the Russian president.
“Dear President Putin, I was deeply upset when I read your recent interview in the Financial Times,” the singer’s Instagram post began. “I strongly disagree with your view that pursuing policies that embrace multicultural and sexual diversity are obsolete in our societies. I find duplicity in your comment that you want LGBT people to ‘be happy’ and that ‘we have no problem in that.’”
Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
Highlighting recent reports that a Russian media company had cut all scenes from Rocketman featuring gay sex and men kissing because of laws banning “homosexual propaganda,” the singer’s letter continued.
“Yet Russian distributors chose to heavily censor my film Rocketman by removing all references to my finding true happiness through my 25 year relationship with David and the raising of my two beautiful sons. This feels like hypocrisy to me.”
After sharing how proud he was to “live in a part of the world where our governments have evolved to recognise the universal human right to love whoever we want,” John signed the letter: “Respectfully, Elton John.”
The post was accompanied by a photograph of John, husband David Furnish and their two sons, with the word “CENSORED” sprawled across it. See the full post below.
Meanwhile, Elton John has announced new UK dates for his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour.
The dates, all penned for 2020, will see John perform farewell gigs in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Leeds. The new UK dates includes a sixth London show on December 14, 2020.
