Cher Said HET to Russia’s Invite /~/~/ ”If They Could Turn Back Time"
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- Cher performs during NYC Pride 2013 on June 30, 2013 in New York City.
MOSCOW—After hearing that legendary pop divaCher had rejected an offer to be part of the opening ceremony of the2014 Winter Olympics in Russia in protest over the country’s gay “propaganda” law, the organizing committee for the games now says that’s fine — they never wanted her anyway.
“There have never been any negotiations with Cher about her possible participation in the ceremonies,” the committee said in a statement.
The “If I Could Turn Back Time” singer told Canadian magazine Macleans in a Q&A published last week that she had been invited by a friend to perform at the games but immediately said no.
“I can’t name names, but my friend called who is a big oligarch over there, and asked me if I’d like to be an ambassador for the Olympics and open the show. I immediately said no. I want to know why all of this gay hate just exploded over there. He said the Russian people don’t feel the way the government does,” she was quoted as saying.
Cher’s Los Angeles-based representatives couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Cher has a large gay fan base and her son,Chaz Bono, is transgender.
The singer, whose hits include “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)” and “I Got You Babe,” is wildly popular in Russia. She has performed in the country twice in the last year – once at a private party in December 2012 thrown by billionaire tycoonSuleiman Kerimov and again in July at the opening of a new stadium for Mr. Kerimov’s soccer team Anzhi Makhachkala in his native Dagestan.
Russia passed the controversial law banning “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations,” to minors in late June. The law has been criticized by gay rights supporters in the U.S. and Europe for being vaguely written and for possibly creating an atmosphere in which homosexuals could be persecuted.
The law has since begun to overshadow preparations for the games, with gay rights advocates calling for a boycott of the event. Numerous actors and performers, including Madonna and Lady Gaga, have spoken out against the bill and some protests in the United States have ended with supposedly Russian vodka being poured out onto the street.
Here’s what Russia will be missing.
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