American reporter James Kirchick hijacks an interview on Russia Today to protest about Moscow’s anti-gay rights laws – and gets taken off the air.
Video posted on line by the Washington Free Beacon
US reporter James Kirchick was asked on Russia’s state-funded news network to talk about the sentence imposed on Bradley Manning. Instead, he pulled up a pair of rainbow gay pride braces and launched into a protest about Moscow’s anti-gay rights laws.
Describing it as a “Kremlin funded propaganda network”, he said he would speak out against “the horrific, anti-gay legislation that Vladimir Putin has signed into law”.
The presenters struggled to divert him back to the issue at hand, to no avail. “You have 24 hours a day to lie about America”, Kirchick retorted. “I am going to tell the truth with my two minutes”.
The clip posted online ends before we can see what happens, but according to Newsweek’s senior national security reporter Eli Lake, Russia Today explained afterwards that they had to take Mr Kirchick off the air because he decided to discuss his views, instead of Bradley Manning.
Later, Kirchick tweeted that he was booted out of his car on the way to the airport after a telephone call from Russia Today, leaving him stranded.
True fact: @RT_com just called taxi company that took me to studio to drop me off on the side of the highway on way to Stockholm airport
— Jamie Kirchick (@jkirchick) August 21, 2013