Russia legislators want US rock band barred

Legislators say Bloodhound Gang should be barred from country after member shoves Russian flag into underpants on stage.

Russia concert
The band was turned away from performing at the popular Kubana festival in a Black Sea town [Reuters]

Russian legislators have called for an American rock band to be barred from the country after its bass player put a Russian flag in his trousers during a concert in Ukraine.

Although the musician apologised for the stunt, pro-Kremlin legislators said on Sunday that the band Bloodhound Gang should be banned from ever coming to Russia again.

All the members of this group should be banned from Russia along with their relatives.

by Andrei Isayev, politician of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party

“There are some questions regarding who invited them to Russia, who organised their concerts, gave them the stage, and paid them,” said the deputy speaker of the Russian parliament, Sergei Neverov.

“All the members of this group should be banned from Russia along with their relatives,” said Andrei Isayev, another top politician in the pro-Kremlin United Russia party.

State television said that the group can still face criminal charges in Russia, but prosecutors said they have yet to receive case materials from the police.

The band was turned away when they arrived to perform at the popular Kubana festival in the Black Sea town of Anapa amid an outcry caused by the stunt.

At the concert earlier across the Black Sea in Odessa, Ukraine, the bassist stuffed a Russian flag into the front of his trousers, then pulled it out from the back. “Don’t tell Putin,” he told the audience, before throwing the flag from the stage.

The band flew out of Russia late on Saturday after pro-Kremlin youths threw eggs at them and a group of men wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “Kuban Cossack Army”, an ultraconservative group, reportedly assaulted them at the airport.

Source: News Agencies