Cultural appropriation may go unpunished stateside — but in Russia, it’s landed three young women behind bars.
A court in southern Russia has sentenced three young women to brief jail terms as punishment for making a video showing them twerking next to a World War II memorial. Prosecutors said in a statement Saturday that five women were found guilty of “hooliganism.”
Hooliganism is the same charge that was used to send two members of punk band Pussy Riot to prison for two years in 2012 after an impromptu protest at Moscow’s main cathedral.
In this instance, the court in Novorossiysk gave two of the dancers 10 days in jail each; a third received 15 days, and the parents of another underage dancer were charged for “the failure to encourage the physical, intellectual, physiological, spiritual and moral development of a child.” Two more young ladies from the video were spared jail time because of poor health.
This is the second twerking scandal in Russia this month.
Just last week, investigators launched a probe after a YouTube video (below) of female schoolgirls dressed as bees twerking suggestively in a Winnie the Pooh routine sparked outrage. The dance school is now in hot water with authorities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVJyfuRtvmI