Putin says Russian culture being 'cancelled' like J.K. Rowling
CTV
President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of trying to cancel Russia's rich musical and literary culture, including composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninov, in the same way he said it had cancelled 'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling.
Speaking in a meeting with leading cultural figures broadcast on national television, Putin complained of the cancellation of a number of Russian cultural events in recent weeks and compared it to actions taken by Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
"Not so long ago, the children's writer J.K. Rowling was also cancelled because she ... did not please the fans of so-called gender freedoms," Putin told the meeting, referring to controversy sparked by the "Harry Potter" author's opinions on transgender issues.
"Today they are trying to cancel a whole thousand-year culture, our people," he said. "I am talking about the gradual discrimination against everything linked to Russia."
"The last time such a mass campaign to destroy objectionable literature was carried out, it was by the Nazis in Germany almost 90 years ago," Putin said.
