Features
Russian Lawmaker Sees Apple’s U2 album As Gay ‘Propaganda’
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.
Photo: AP Photo
Apple CEO Tim Cook with members of U2, Cupertino, Calif.
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.”
In fact, the cover shows the band’s drummer embracing his 18-year-old son, 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.