A professionally produced viral video of unknown origin is encouraging Russians to vote in the March 18, 2008 presidential election, by suggesting if they don't, the country will not only become a Communist dictatorship, but will force heterosexual men to sleep with homosexuals.
(The line is meant to disparage President Vladimir Putin's critics who have called for an election boycott on the grounds that Putin's victory has been rigged in advance.)
He wakes up in a dystopian future. A general pounds on his door. After a nonsensical "dab" salute, the general tells the groggy man he's being conscripted into the military. In disbelief, the man slams the door in the general's face, only to be confronted by his son, wearing a neckerchief symbolic of a Communist youth group, who demands four million rubles to pay for security guards in school.
The man goes to the kitchen to ask his wife what's happening, only to see a flamboyant gay man wearing a pink shirt and filing his nails at the table. "I'm your adopted gay" he says. His wife explains, "Today we have laws that every family has to foster gays abandoned by their partners." She tells him if he doesn't get a new partner in a week, "you will have to get together with him."
"The law is the law" the gay man sneers, then takes a bite of banana.
The man flees to the bathroom, only to hear a stern voice over an intercom, "the number of visits to the bathroom is limited!" The general and the rest of his family corner him in the bathroom ... then he wakes up in his bed ... only to find the gay man next to him.
Then he wakes up a second time, finally realizing it was dream. He anxiously tells his wife, "we've got to go vote, hurry! Before it's too late!"
The lead actor is a famous Russian comic performer, but he would not tell the news site Meduza anything about his involvement. The man who supposedly directed it won't say who paid for the video, and at times has denied his own involvement. Meduza suggests that political strategists linked to the Kremlin are probably responsible.
Russian Propaganda Video Takes Shot At Election Boycotters
The satiric sketch begins on the night of March 17, with a man and woman about to go to bed. The man tells the woman they don't need to set the alarm clock, because "tomorrow is Sunday." When she reminds him they have to vote, he scoffs, "as if they won't elect anyone without you ... Without her vote how will we ever figure out who our president will be?"(The line is meant to disparage President Vladimir Putin's critics who have called for an election boycott on the grounds that Putin's victory has been rigged in advance.)
He wakes up in a dystopian future. A general pounds on his door. After a nonsensical "dab" salute, the general tells the groggy man he's being conscripted into the military. In disbelief, the man slams the door in the general's face, only to be confronted by his son, wearing a neckerchief symbolic of a Communist youth group, who demands four million rubles to pay for security guards in school.
The man goes to the kitchen to ask his wife what's happening, only to see a flamboyant gay man wearing a pink shirt and filing his nails at the table. "I'm your adopted gay" he says. His wife explains, "Today we have laws that every family has to foster gays abandoned by their partners." She tells him if he doesn't get a new partner in a week, "you will have to get together with him."
"The law is the law" the gay man sneers, then takes a bite of banana.
The man flees to the bathroom, only to hear a stern voice over an intercom, "the number of visits to the bathroom is limited!" The general and the rest of his family corner him in the bathroom ... then he wakes up in his bed ... only to find the gay man next to him.
Then he wakes up a second time, finally realizing it was dream. He anxiously tells his wife, "we've got to go vote, hurry! Before it's too late!"
No One Taking Credit For Video Widely Criticized As Homophobic
The video has been widely criticized outside of Russia as homophobic. And the people involved have been cagey about how it was produced.The lead actor is a famous Russian comic performer, but he would not tell the news site Meduza anything about his involvement. The man who supposedly directed it won't say who paid for the video, and at times has denied his own involvement. Meduza suggests that political strategists linked to the Kremlin are probably responsible.