MOSCOW – A member of Russia’s parliament has asked prosecutors to determine whether Apple violated Russia’s ban on gay “propaganda” when it delivered U2‘s latest album to a half-billion iTunes users for free last year.
Izvestia, a newspaper loyal to the Kremlin, reported Wednesday that it has a copy of Alexander Starovoitov’s appeal to prosecutors in which he says the cover of the album Songs of Innocence shows two men “in a display of non-traditional sexual relations.”
READ MORE: U2 rehearsing for tour in Vancouver
In fact, the cover shows the band’s drummer Larry Mullen Jr. embracing his 18-year-old son Aaron, both of them shirtless.
It is not yet clear whether prosecutors will open an investigation.
Some of those in Russia who ridiculed Starovoitov’s appeal drew a comparison to the time in 2006 when President Vladimir Putin kissed a small boy’s bare stomach.
Comments