One of Russia’s biggest pop stars is Philip Kirkorov, famous for his elaborate performances. Now, a regional politician has sarcastically promised him a “warm welcome” from “our guys” when he next visits the Sverdlovsk region.
“Maybe after that, you’ll stop being a clown and start turning on your brain before you have fun like this,” the angry lawmaker said in a Facebook post.
Viktor Babenko says Kirkorov had insulted all servicemen of the Airborne Forces of Russia when he featured in a sketch playing a “gay paratrooper.” The local assembly member for the ruling ‘United Russia’ party is particularly upset at the timing of the sketch, close to the 75th anniversary of Soviet Russia’s Second World War defeat of Nazi Germany.
He says this shows that the singer has “neither shame nor conscience and no love for Russia.” Kirkorov is Bulgarian-born and partially resides in Miami, where his children were born.
Kirkorov’s performance was featured in the online comedy series #vmasque, where the singer is offered absurd advertising jobs, all with erotic overtones. In the video concerned, he is supposed to advertise an intimate lubricating gel with an anatomical name. When his character realizes the context, he refuses to star in the commercial. In the clip he is wearing a Russian paratrooper’s beret.
A household name in Russia, Kirkorov represented the country in the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin. He subsequently wrote entries for Ukraine and Belarus. He was once married to legendary Soviet pop-superstar Alla Pugacheva.
