TORONTO – Montreal electronic musician Grimes is defending her decision to play a private show in Russia after apparently being criticized over Twitter.
The eccentric Juno Award winner behind last year’s celebrated Visions confirmed that she’s got an imminent gig in Moscow and adds: “No, I do not feel bad about it.”
In a Tumblr post titled “response to Twitter criticisms of the show in Russia,” she adds that while this is a private event, she’ll return to the country later for a bigger show.
In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law outlawing providing “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to children, threatening so-called offenders with prison sentences, hefty fines or, in the case of foreigners, deportation.
Via Twitter, Grimes told a fan she was hoping to return for a “big” Russian tour in the spring.
“I don’t think that denying and ignoring the gay community in Russia is cool,” wrote the 25-year-old, whose real name is Claire Boucher. “I have gay friends in Russia and the only (straight) person on the Grimes team is James as far as I know lol.
“We are entering safely and it means the world to me to be returning to Russia,” she added. “It doesn’t hurt the government if I refuse to tour there. Just regular people. So I don’t think it’s wrong to be doing this. Refusing to go to Russia would only hurt fans.”
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