John shared a photo on Instagram of a male couple, one of whom has a bloodied face.
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“Pranks are amusing. Homophobia, however is never amusing”, John wrote on his Instagram account on Thursday.
‘I will always stand up for those that are being degraded and discriminated against.
Sir Elton John has said he was “happy to be pranked” in a fake phone call from Vladimir Putin because it has helped raise awareness of LGBT issues.
Elton John is an active campaigner for LGBT rights and has previously criticized Putin for comments he has made seeming to compare homosexuals to pedophiles. “In the phone call, the pranksters mentioned the singer’s meeting with PUTIN’s main rival, Ukrainian President PETER POROSHENKO, then turned the conversation to gay rights – a heated topic in Russian Federation, which is known for its discriminatory policies against gays and lesbians”.
He said: ““I understand that Elton John wishes to have a meeting with President Putin. The president, I’m sure, will be ready to meet with Elton John, too, if there is such a request”.
In it, a clearly delighted, and perhaps slightly star-struck, John says how thrilled he is Putin has called and quickly starts trying persuade him to meet in person.
“I think the violence toward LGBT people-they don’t feel safe-but this something I don’t really want to talk about over the phone”, John told them. He said: ‘Thank you, you’ve made my day.
According to the Times report though, Peskov “said that Mr. Putin was open to discussion about everything and he did not doubt the president would be willing to speak with the singer”. Believing he is speaking, via an interpreter, to the Russian president, Elton says, “My position in life is that people who are gay should be included in all walks of life and be given basic freedom”. As Stereogum notes, the call’s not actually very amusing, though if it were, John probably would have seen through the ruse.
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Sir Elton has been outspoken on the issue of gay rights before, most recently when, earlier this year, he temporarily boycotted Dolce and Gabbana after the fashion designers called children conceived by IVF “synthetic”.
