Russian legislator accuses Apple, U2 of violating Russian law against gay propaganda among minors
“A Russian legislator has accused Apple and the band U2 of violating the Russian law ‘against gay propaganda among minors’ by uploading U2’s latest album, Songs of Innocence, to iTunes customers worldwide, including Russia, in September 2014,” Vladimir Kozlov reports for Billboard. “Alexander Starovoitov, a member of the Russian State Duma, the lower chamber of Parliament, asked the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the incident.”
“‘Just like many citizens of the Russian Federation, I am an iPhone owner,’ Starovoitov said in the address to the Prosecutor’s Office, quoted by the Russian daily Izvestia. ‘In 2014, tracks by U2 were uploaded in a viral way to my Music folder in iTunes, with the album cover featuring what I believe to be two men engaged in a manifestation of non-traditional sexual relations,'” Kozlov reports. “Starovoitov apparently referred to the album’s cover photo featuring the band’s drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. embracing his 18-year-old son, Elvis, while both are shirtless.”
Kozlov reports, “Back in September 2014, U2 explained on its web site that the image was supposed to show ‘in the visual language, how ‘holding on to your own innocence is a lot harder than holding on to someone else’s.'”
MacDailyNews Note: Below are two Songs of Innocence album covers from our iTunes music library (the free giveaway cover on the left and the album cover currently on sale in the iTunes Store on the right):
U2’s Songs of Innocence album covers via Apple’s iTunes
