Grigory Leps.
Photo: Mikhail FROLOV
It would seem that narrow-minded liberal haters think, well, what else is needed for happiness? Support the state agenda, speak up, earn money. Like many Russian artists. Unfortunately, life is a bit more complicated.
Then Grigory Leps, who never had problems with an audience in Russia and neighboring countries (and in Europe, the artist’s performances among a Russian-speaking audience were accompanied by a full hall), faced serious difficulties. Essentially sabotage and a cancel culture. Chansonnier concerts in the CIS countries began to be canceled one after another, immediately after Grigory Viktorovich financially helped Russian fighters, keeping his word.
Previously, Leps (as well as Nikolai Baskov, Elena Sever, Vladimir Kiselev, Yulia Baranovskaya) offered to pay our soldiers 1 million rubles for each destroyed tank of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And the first “star” transaction has already passed. A fighter with the callsign Venom verified Leps’ payment.
Immediately after that, the once friendly republics of Russia, formerly part of the USSR, began to hastily write off the artist. The concert in Tashkent, scheduled for October 23, will not take place.
– For some technical reasons, the concert program was postponed. All money for purchased tickets can be returned accordingly, writes the official telegram channel of the Ministry of Culture of Uzbekistan.
The same thing happened with the performances of Nikolai Baskov in this country. The Uzbek press writes that his concert, scheduled for October 23, was also cancelled. The reason cannot be obvious only to the most naive citizens. And indeed, Uzbek officials are not going to hide anything: “Performances in Uzbekistan by Russian artists who support the conflict may create a false appearance of support for their criminal activities aimed at inciting the conflict, posing a threat to the image of the Republic of Uzbekistan.”
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, with which our country has long-standing historical, cultural and economic ties, decided to follow the same path. Performances of “Under the pressure of the public” by Grigory Leps were also canceled in Kazakhstan. Local anti-Russian activists inundated officials with complaints, and it worked.
— The company decided to terminate the contract with the concert organizers [Лепса] unilaterally,” said representatives of Makao Luxury Village Resort, which provided the musician with a concert hall. – Tickets are refunded at the place of purchase.
In Kyrgyzstan, where Leps was “invited to speak privately,” the same thing happened. In Cholpon-Ata, the concert scheduled for August 2 at the Blonder Pub was cancelled.
Grigory Viktorovich himself was not very upset by the cancellation of the performances – he will always find where to sing, the only pity is the audience, which has lost its bright emotions due to Russophobic activists.
“Yes, lately Kazakhstan is still that Russophobic corner,” Vladimir Uryupin, the artist’s director, commented on the events. – The position of Grigory Viktorovich was, is and will be unchanged. We support our country, no matter what happens in different countries, no matter what they say. Canceled and cancelled, to hell with them. Okay, we can do without Kazakhstan. We support our country, and we will continue to support it, and we will do everything in our power so that victory is ours. Nothing happened, just another statement, and people in Kazakhstan went crazy. Well, for the love of God! If so, what are they doing now? We weren’t upset one bit. We supported our military and our military as much as we could and what we can, so we will continue to do this.
