A performance by Ukrainian comedians in Latvia has left many social media users in Ukraine distinctly unamused.
In July, Studio Kvartal 95, a Kyiv-based production company famous for its Vecherniy Kvartal comedy show, organized a four-day festival of Ukrainian culture in the Latvian town of Jurmala. The program consisted of comedy acts and performances by popular Ukrainian singers, including Eurovision winners Ruslana and Jamala.
However, the online debate over the performance by Kvartal 95 did not start until a few days ago, when on Sept. 10 video of the performance was aired on television. In particular, a series of political skits that portrayed Ukraine begging for money on the international stage raised the public’s hackles.
Many social media users took offense at one particular joke. President Petro Poroshenko was impersonated wooing potential money lenders. Speaking about loans, he compared Ukraine to a German porn star, “ready to take it in any size, from any direction.”
“We have reached a new level in the economy. It’s called begging. It’s neither a financial pyramid, nor a scam. It is a reliable scheme, verified by gypsies. You give us your money; we do not pay it back. One hundred percent guarantee,” said “Poroshenko,” impersonated by the front man of Kvartal 95, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Other jokes targeted former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who was introduced as one of the best crisis managers in Ukraine, as he had “managed to organize two crises in a short period of time.” The mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko was presented as a dim-witted boxer so inarticulate that he needed an interpreter. Ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, wearing a shabby jacket on top of tracksuit, went around the audience begging for money with a hat and complaining about having been robbed of money that he had stolen himself.
At the end of a 26-minute opening act, the comedians sang a song about the current situation in Ukraine, with lyrics complaining about “no roads, high tariffs, corruption, and nepotism.”
After a video of the performance was aired on television and posted on YouTube, Ukrainians began to vent their anger on social media. Many thought the humor, and Zelensky’s porn star reference in particular, were insulting, vulgar, and unfunny.
Member of Parliament Oleg Lyashko pulled no punches, saying that Zelensky should be banned from performing in Ukraine.
“Only prostitutes like Zelensky are capable of humiliating their homeland for a foreign public’s entertainment,” Lyashko wrote in a post on Facebook.
Zelensky responded that the intention of the performance had been clear: He did not mean to offend his nation, but rather satirize corrupt politicians.
“Enough of taking loans that our children and grandchildren will have to pay off. We (Ukrainians) are proud people, not beggars. That’s it. There are no other meanings. We (Kvartal 95) are patriots. We love our country and we fight for its freedom, and freedom of expression in it,” Zelensky wrote in a Facebook post responding to criticism.
In an official statement released by Studio Kvartal 95, the comedians claimed there had been an attempt to stop them, through a paid-for campaign on the internet, from speaking a truth that concerns millions of Ukrainians.
