An American alternative-rock band, the Killers, has apologized for bringing a Russian drummer on stage throughout a present in Georgia and for describing followers as “brothers and sisters,” which prompted boos from the viewers.
Georgia has a protracted historical past of stress with its northern neighbor, exacerbated by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and a subsequent large inflow of Russian emigrants escaping their nation.
The band, seven instances nominated for the music business’s Grammy Awards, carried out on Tuesday within the Black Sea resort of Batumi throughout a European tour.
“Good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone!” the band mentioned in an announcement on its Facebook web page, including that it had a longstanding custom of inviting folks to play the drums.
“We recognize that a comment, meant to suggest that all of the Killers’ audience and fans are ‘brothers and sisters,’ could be misconstrued,” it added.
The reference was to a comment band chief Brandon Flowers made to the group, saying he didn’t need the state of affairs to show “angry”.
“I see you as my brothers and my sisters,” Flowers added to the sound of boos and whistles in a video printed by the Russian state RIA news company.
Videos on social media confirmed folks leaving the present, along with the booing.
Georgian public opinion is overwhelmingly pro-Ukrainian.
The band has offered hundreds of thousands of albums, with many songs topping the charts because it shaped within the metropolis of Las Vegas within the early 2000s.
© Thomson Reuters 2023.