Russia has banned a popular picture showing President Vladimir Putin in heavy makeup as “extremist.” The picture was added last week to the country’s list of banned extremist material.
The “meme” of Putin as a gay clown first appeared after Russia introduced a controversial “gay propaganda” law in 2013, which bans the promotion of homosexuality to minors. Many people criticized it as state-sponsored homophobia. President Putin at the time argued the law was an attempt to protect children.
According to The Telegraph, the ban applies specifically to a picture posted on Vkontakte, a Russian social network, which is meant to represent "the supposed nonstandard sexual orientation of the president of the Russian Federation."
The Putin photograph is now the 4,071st banned item on the register of 4,074 banned items which also include Nazi imagery, white power slogans, and jihadist websites.
Sign Up
