During a press conference held at the G20 summit in Osaka, Russian President Vladimir Putin has addressed concerns regarding Russia’s alleged attitude towards the LGBT community that were voiced earlier by famous singer Sir Elton John, after one of the reporters asked him about it.
While the president described Elton John as a "genius musician" whom he greatly respects, he also refuted the singer’s criticism.
"We really have a neutral attitude toward members of the LGBT community, a really calm, perfectly unbiased [attitude]", the president said. "We have a law everyone scolds us about — the law banning propaganda of homosexuality among minors. But listen, let us allow a person to grow up and become an adult first, and then decide who they are. Leave the children alone".
Earlier, Elton John addressed Putin directly in an Instagram post over the Russian president’s interview with the Financial Times on 27 June, where the latter said that he wishes everyone could be happy and live as they wish, noting that there are “no problems with LGBT persons” in Russia.
The singer delivered his complaints after a biographical film about his career, The Rocketman, was edited after its prescreening in Moscow, with the film’s distributor removing around 5 minutes’ worth of scenes involving gay sex and drug abuse in order to make the movie “compliant with Russian laws”.