In the midst of shooting a music video for a new song called “БЕСИТ / RAGE” yesterday, Russian punk provocateurs Pussy Riot were forced to scrap the production early when police shut down the operation citing a 2013 “gay propaganda” law allegedly being violated by the video’s cast of one hundred and fifty female and/or queer activists.
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“Russian political police commanded to the studio where we were shooting, ‘Lenfilm,’ to cut off electricity in the whole building,” the band shared in an Instagram post, which includes footage of both the music video and the debacle. “The single ‘БЕСИТ / RAGE’ is dedicated to a pain that we – feminists and the queer people – feel being the enemies of the state. ‘A police baton on my ribs, I’m singing with blood today’ – goes ‘БЕСИТ / RAGE’.”
They go on to explain that the confrontation cost them $15,000 before sharing PayPal (paypal.me/xxpussyriotxx) and Venmo (@nadyariot) handles in hopes of crowdsourcing the loss. “Many thanks for fucking fucked Russian cops, but we’re going to film this video anyway,” Nadya Tolokonnikova says in the video. We can only hope.
UPDATE: According to a recent tweet, Pussy Riot members Tolokonnikova and Sasha Sofeev and eleven others have been detained “with no explanation” during a photoshoot today in St. Petersburg.