Russian Celebrities Face Backlash Over 'Almost Naked' Party Amid War

Rapper Jailed, Influencer Faces Lawsuit as Scandal Highlights Russia's Increasing Social Conservatism

Russian celebrities are facing backlash, including jail time and loss of work, following an 'almost naked' party held in Moscow, which has been deemed inappropriate given the country's ongoing war with Ukraine and increasingly conservative social agenda.
Rapper Nikolai Vasilyev, known as Vacio, who attended the party wearing only a sock, was jailed for 15 days and fined for 'propagating non-traditional sexual relations.'
Party organizer and influencer Anastasia Ivleeva, who wore jewellery worth 23 million roubles ($251,000) to the event, has issued two public apology videos and faces a lawsuit demanding she pay out 1 billion roubles ($10.9 million) for 'moral suffering.'
Other celebrities have had concerts and lucrative state TV airtime cancelled, contracts with sponsors revoked, and in some cases, are reportedly being cut out of new films.
The scandal comes as President Putin, who is expected to comfortably win another six-year term at a March election, has doubled down on social conservatism, urging families to have eight or more children, and after Russia's supreme court ruled that LGBTQ+ activists should be designated as 'extremists.'