On July 30-31, in an act of rock-and-roll recklessness, American band The Bloodhound Gang publicly desecrated both the Ukrainian and Russian national flags onstage – little did they know the stunt would cause nation-wide controversy.
“I wonder, do these punk idiots do that in U.S.
too?” commented Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, lead vocalist for the Ukrainian band
Okean Elzy.
An online video went viral in Ukraine and Russia last
week, as it revealed bass player Jarer Hasselhoff urinating on the Ukrainian
flag during a concert in Odessa on July 30. The bassist repeated a similar
stunt the following day, as footage showed him stuffing the Russian flag down
the front of his trousers and pulling it out the back, rasping to the audience:
“Don’t tell Putin.” The band has subsequently been banned from playing in
Russia and could face criminal charges in both Russia and Ukraine.
On Friday, upon arrival to the South Russian city of
Anapa for the Kubana music festival, the band immediately learned that their
concert had been cancelled due to the offense caused by the flag stunt,
according to the festival spokeswoman Maria Minina. Russia’s Minister of Culture,
Vladimir Medinsky, denounced the band on Twitter, calling them “idiots” and
demanding they pack their bags and go back to the U.S.
Until today Ukraine’s reaction has been comparatively
subdued. This afternoon the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry deplored the action as highly
contentious, stating that the Pechersky District Department of Kyiv police have
launched criminal proceedings into the band’s desecration of the Ukrainian
national flag.
Ukrainian Choice, a Kyiv-based organization previously
described by The Ukrainian Week as “Kremlin-imposed,” issued a press release
this morning, expressing its outrage not only at the “infamous act” but also at
the lack of reaction from the Ukrainian government. The organization went further
by stating that “such actions contain all the elements of a crime (according to
Article 338 of the Criminal Code).”
The flag stunt occurred against a backdrop of rising
tensions between Russia and the U.S. over National security leaker, Edward
Snowden, who was given temporary asylum in Russia last week to help him evade
prosecution in the U.S.
The Deputy Press Secretary, Vadim Kovaliuk, from the
U.S. Embassy in Kyiv stated that Hasselhoff has a reputation for outrageous
public displays, and has not excluded any country from hurls of abuse, even
America. Indeed, not everyone in the band
agreed with Hasselhoff. The footage also reveals lead singer Jimmy Pop
reassuring the crowd he disagreed with Hasselhoff “Russia is better than
America” he said, “so I disapprove of that.” Luke Schtele, the U.S embassy’s press attache, described the act as “brazen” and “insulting”, but that freedom of speech is a universal right sealed in the U.S. Constitution and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.The Bloodhound Gang rock group made use of their rights in a disgusting manner, insulting the United States and the Ukrainian and Russian peoples during their concerts in Kyiv and Odesa, Schtele said.
The UA Anonymous hacker organization
has announced on Twitter that they attacked the group’s website: “We are
not expecting apologies from ambassadors or ministries. We are ordinary
Ukrainian guys and we are doing what we can do. We have just wrecked the
http://bloodhoundgang.com Web site,” according to a message posted this
afternoon on Twitter. The Web site has remained blocked since 3:00 p.m. today.
The Bloodhound gang was formed in the 1990s and is notorious
for their sexually explicit lyrics. Hasselhoff publicly apologized for the
stunt on Friday, stating that it is a band tradition to pass everything thrown
onstage through the crotch of his trousers.
Kyiv Post intern Isabel Douglas-Hamilton can be
reached at [email protected].
