Ksenia Sobchak Removes Controversial Interview With Gay Singer Amidst LGBT Propaganda Concerns

Media figure Ksenia Sobchak announced on Wednesday that she had removed a recent interview from her widely followed YouTube channel after being cautioned by Russia’s state media watchdog that it contained elements of “LGBT propaganda.”

The interview, which aired in early September, featured openly gay Russian-born singer and blogger Sergei Grigoryev-Apollonov, who is known professionally as Grey Wiese.

During the conversation, the 44-year-old artist, who resides in Paris, shared his experiences with homophobia in his home region of Saratov and discussed his life in Europe.

In her Telegram post regarding the interview’s “mandatory withdrawal,” Sobchak included the warning from Roskomnadzor, the Russian regulatory body, expressing her disappointment while emphasizing her obligation to adhere to Russian laws. She did not specify which parts of the content were flagged.

This incident follows a November 2023 ruling by the Russian Supreme Court that declared the so-called «international LGBT movement» an extremist entity, paving the way for a widespread suppression of LGBT-related discourse.

Sobchak noted, “Currently, there are very few instances of enforcement under this law as it pertains to the media, and legal interpretations vary greatly.”

Although the full interview is no longer accessible on Sobchak’s YouTube channel, several short clips featuring Grigoryev-Apollonov were still available as of Wednesday evening.

In subsequent statements to the exiled outlet TV Rain, Grigoryev-Apollonov expressed his astonishment that the interview was originally released but countered the allegations that it amounted to propaganda.

With 1.5 million followers on Instagram, Grigoryev-Apollonov is the nephew of pop singer Andrei Grigoryev-Apollonov from the band Ivanushki International, which rose to fame in the late 1990s. His content usually revolves around music and personal life rather than political issues.