Are Russians TOO Tolerant? Russia-Hating Rockstar Allowed to Tour Country and Spew His Bile

"Hearing the cold whisper of stars, we blew up the Crimean bridge". Either a verse or a chant by musician Zakhar May. He was born in Ukraine, worked in St.Petersburg, now a US citizen. There are many similar verses in the repertoire of the famous rocker. One could ignore it, but the Russophobe artist came to Russia on tour. The concerts will be held in Moscow and St. Petersburg. And while clubs are selling tickets, the fans are wondering: how can he perform in a country that he labeled "the empire of evil"? Moreover, in December 2016 he openly sneered at the victims of the Tu-154 crash near Sochi. I don't even want to quote him now. Another characteristic feature: this is the way the musician portrayed Donbass during a shelling. He even dedicated some poetic lines to the Ukrainian radicals. All this rhetorics — Bandera, blasphemous jokes and outright hostility towards Russia — he plans to take with him on his tour to Russia. Georgiy Podgorniy explains why: Is the answer simple — it's all about the money? - Yes, it's all about the money. Money completely changes one's attitude to the world, to politics, and to everything in general. A drug addict and a homosexual — that's what Zahar May calls himself. He made a coming-out a long time ago, when the already poor career of the failed rocker began to crumble. His repertoire is not for everyone: one of his last songs is called "Rydaet vata" ("Russian hooray patriots are crying"). But his main hit song is called "Our tanks". The lyrics of the song is definitely unambiguous. When our tanks enter Moscow, I will hang many people. When our tanks enter Moscow, I will hang many people. Zakhar cannot gather a stadium for his performance, the times when he was invited to festivals like "Nashestviye" or "Krylya" are long over, if not forgotten. He can expect only a performance in a bar near the "Baumanskaya" subway station, where people only recently learned about the humor and preferences of the artist, and have not yet made any conclusions. Mikhail Palitskiy, creative director of "Schwein" club: "He's been performing at the club for 10 years. He'd come to Moscow each month. No one found it strange. It seems that lately he has made some statements, but of course, I disapprove of that". After his strong statements, he cannot expect a warm welcome in Russia. Other artists, ridiculed by Zakhar at some point in the past, also warn against it. Yuri Loza became the object of his ridicule. This tweet is the most innocent one. The rest are not for a live program. Yuri Loza, singer: "Guys, if you take the liberty of arranging concerts for this Russophobe, then you can expect our people to behave the same way, people could not only disrupt the concert, but also do something that would result in heavy consequences". Even if you quickly scroll through the musician's Twitter page, it is clear that not much is said about the music. He's worried about Russia, sitting in Ukraine. He's worried about the politics. Russians, in his opinion, are not too bright. But when it comes to performing, he changes his mind, and the anti-Russian figure turns into a connoisseur of Saint-Petersburg — the Russian capital of culture. He admires Vladivostok, compares it with San Francisco. Apparently, he enjoys the places where he gets paid. Boris Rozhin, journalist: "This Russophobia, although demanded by the political class of Ukraine, is poorly monetized, because the Ukrainian entertainment market is rather narrow. Russophobia, which they publicly support, is damaging this market, so they try to abruptly change their mind by making compromise statements or try to deny what they said". If you imagine the opposite situation: a Russian artist goes on tour to Ukraine, it's possible that he'll be denied entrance at the border. And the concert can simply be disrupted. In this case, it is not about performing in an underground bar, but of a full-scale concert. Nikolay Azarov, former Prime Minister of Ukraine: "Currently, the state policy is discriminating against Russian culture, they simply make it difficult for the artists to travel to Ukraine to play for their audience. You can ask, for example, Ani Lorak, whose concerts in Odessa were disrupted". However, if Zahar May still makes it to the concert — whether on a tank or by foot — then, apparently, he will do it all alone, without drums or a bass guitarist, and without back vocal. He would have to perform, as they say, face to face with the audience. The announcement says the concert will be acoustic. - Georgiy Podgorniy reported on the tours of Russophobes.