YouTube ‘stunt’ shows violent homophobia in Russia

A group of Russian YouTube pranksters are highlighting the reality of homophobia in Russia. 

A YouTube video titled "Избиение гомосексуалистов в России / Reaction to gays in Russia social experiment" had over seven million views on Thursday morning, four days after it was posted. The video shows two men holding hands, walking around the streets of Moscow amidst an onslought of homophobic slurs and threats. 

"I was shocked by the reactions. … They were just crazy. Every five minutes we would get a bad reaction," one of the filmmakers, Nikita Rozhdesev, said to the BBC. 

The two men filmed are not actually a couple, and do not identify as gay. They are members of a Russian prank video group called ChebuRussiaTV. "We didn't know that so many people would watch it, but we knew that our subscribers would be interested in this topic," said Rozhdesev.

ChebuRussiaTV has created videos that range from silly, like young women wearing fake mustaches asking strangers for help, to more serious social commentary, such as asking Russians how they feel about Ukraine. This one has a clearly more political bent, and comes amidst harsh criticism of Russian policies regarding gay rights. The group added English subtitles as it began to gain hits, and by Thursday the debate in the comments section was conducted largely in English. ChebuRussiaTV said that the video was not simply a ploy for views, but that they film whatever they are passionate about. 

"I guess you could call it a stunt, but it's a pretty informative stunt," said Erik Wemple, a media critic at the Washington Post. "I suppose they're misrepresenting themselves by being in a public square holding hands, but it doesn't gravely concern me because it's transparent. They're engaging in a publicly transparent behavior that other people do with impunity elsewhere, and perhaps gay couples in Moscow have already absorbed this sort of abuse."