TV presenter Ivan Urgant spoke about the cancellation of his performance at the festival of the charity foundation «Anton Tut Ryadom» in St. Petersburg on August 21.
The organizers announced Urgant's participation in the festival under his alter ego «Grisha Urgant» on August 1, after the main line-up was announced.
Currently, Urgant's name is not on the event's website. However, their Instagram still contains a hand-drawn portrait of a man who looks like the artist.
According to Urgant, he learned about the cancellation of the performance yesterday, August 2. «It is not my fault and the festival organizers have nothing to do with it,» he wrote.
After the start of the war in Ukraine, Fontanka, citing musicians and concert organizers, reported the existence of lists of artists whose performances are «considered undesirable» due to their anti-war position. According to Meduza, the presidential administration's public projects department is handling them.
There is no single «black list» of artists; journalists have published different versions and editions of it since the war. For example, Ivan Urgant was not on the lists published by Fontanka and Meduza. At the same time, Vesti Orenburzhya (VGTRK) in February 2024, citing local concert organizers, claimed that the host had been banned.