Russia’s Eurovision entry caught using vile homophobic slurs at Pride in resurfaced video
Russia’s 2020 Eurovision Song Contest entrant, Little Big, were shown hurling homophobic slurs in a resurfaced video. (Screen capture via YouTube)
With a music video splashed with the colours of the trans Pride flag and a satirical mocking of a Chechen leader that has overseen the deaths of countless queer people, Eurovision Song Contest fans were raving about Russia’s camp contestants Little Big.
But footage of Little Big members at a 2017 Belgian Pride using homophobic slurs was uncovered by Lithuanian blogger Geizeris.
It shows bandmates mocking LGBT+ people and calling for a “heterosexual” Pride.
Lithuanian councillors told PinkNews they were “saddened” by the footage, which shows a band member deride a Pride flag and say “faggots”.
European Pride Organisers Association leaders informed PinkNews that Belgian Pride administrators did not invite the quartet to the Pride. They are aware of the incident and are “considering their options”.
Russia’s Eurovision entrant caught hurling homophobia at Pride event.
Mobile phone footage shows the St Petersburg band pummelling the pavement of Brussels. The vlog begins with Ilya Prusikin praising a club for flying a rainbow flag.
“Look, how cute it is,” he says, “there lives a person who likes rainbow.
“It’s so wonderful,” Prusikin continues, “when people simply love the rainbow and hang that flag on their window.
The clip then cuts to Prusikin and bandmate Anton Lissov, who says: “I have to tell you that the whole thing with rainbows, faggots hang those things.”
Confused, Prusikin replies: “You must be kidding me.
“A person simply likes the rainbow and hangs the rainbow.”
“Maybe they do like the rainbow,” Lissov reasons, “but, simply, [they] f**k in the ass.”
Little Big member asks why there is not ‘heterosexual Pride’.
The rest of the video shows Prusikin taking down a tripod “because it can attract gay people”. Lissov asks where Prusikin hid the tripod, to which he says he does not know but then winces as he walks.
Moreover, Prusikin later questions why a Pride parade is needed because it is “illogical”.
“Why do people who like anal sex between man and man or vaginal sex between woman and woman hold parades?” he questioned.
“Why aren’t there parades for those who like to insert their willy into female vagina?”
He added: “This is a real violation of my rights as a heterosexual.
“Make a Pride for vagina-lovers. We would all go.”
A Pride-goer later recognises Prusikin and the pair take a photograph. Walking away, Prusikin mutters: “It is very uncomfortable when you get recognised in a parade like this.
“Next time I am going to tell them that it is not me.”
He later serpentines through the crowd clogging the streets only to stay that it smells of “lube”.
‘We are very sad to see that Little Big do not share the ideas of tolerance and acceptance.’
As the footage went viral, detractors voiced their disappointment at hearing the band hurl homophobia so casually.
Vilnius city council member Tomas V Raskevičius told PinkNews: “Eurovision Song Contest is an important event for many LGBT+ people across Europe, especially in countries with challenging human rights record.
“We are very sad to see that the Russian representatives do not share the ideas of tolerance and acceptance. Given the disastrous LGBT+ human rights situation in Russia, we want to be sure that people know what ideas Little Big is trying to sell to Europe.”
Fans furthered the disappointment by taking to Twitter to share their thoughts.
Still believe in giving the benefit of the doubt and that attitudes can change as you get older…
BUT sad to report that Little Big and UNO are cancelled, and if Eurovision goes ahead you can be sure to shit we’ll hold them to account on this video: https://t.co/wjG6T86vjt pic.twitter.com/Z8WrwQLfMd
— Rob Holley (@robholley) March 17, 2020
Hey you Eurovision gays if you plan on stanning the russian entry to this years show, you should probably watch this https://t.co/gKL8aq4w7z— Good Round to Boy Ratio (@A_hungry_Fool) March 17, 2020
Really disappointing… but not at all surprising sadly. #Eurovision https://t.co/ejSdSAdmAt— Jo Malley ?? (@marciehatter) March 17, 2020
PinkNews contacted Eurovision organisers and Little Big for comment.
