Rammstein members kiss onstage in Moscow in defiance of Russia's "gay propaganda" law
We’ve previously reported on Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, which Vladimir Putin signed into existence in 2013. Basically, the law is meant to ban the distribution of “propaganda of homosexuality among minors,” and has resulted in the recent Elton John biopic Rocketman getting recut by Russian authorities to remove its “objectionable” content. You can’t recut a concert, though, and theatrical German metal outfit Rammstein took full advantage of that during their concert in Moscow on Monday.
As reported by Consequence Of Sound, guitarists Paul Landers and Richard Kruspe capped off their performance of “Ausländer” with a kiss, which was met by roaring approval from the crowd. Putin, who we’re assuming was also in the crowd, presumably stormed out in a huff while deleting “Du hast” from his iPod. Per the law, “foreigners may be arrested and detained for up to 15 days, then deported, or fined up to 5,000 rubles and deported.” Considering these dudes lug around flamethrowers, we’re betting they’ll be just fine.
The kiss is nothing new for the band. They’ve apparently been incorporating it into their live show for the entirety of their recent European tour. There was an added weight to doing it in Moscow, though, of which the band was well aware. They posted a photo of the moment to their Instagram page, captioning it with “Russia, we love you!”
Check it out along with some fan-shot footage below.