Russian court fines Lady Gaga concert promoter for breaching anti-propaganda law

A Russian court has fined the promoter of a Lady Gaga concert in St. Petersburg last December the equivalent of $614 for “propaganda of alcohol consumption and homosexuality,” various reports said Monday.

Nadezhda Petrova, who filed the lawsuit against Planeta Plus, attended the concert with her 13-year-old daughter.

In her complaint, Petrova claims the teenager was exposed to simulated sex acts between women and the promotion of alcohol, which she argued were in breach of a local anti-propaganda law protecting children “from information that could harm their health.”

A judge agreed with Petrova, and slapped a 20,000 ruble fine on Planeta Plus.

On the face of it, the fine is trivial. But media reports said it could open the door for Petrova to sue Planeta Plus in a criminal court for millions of rubles in damages for “psychic trauma” suffered by her daughter.

Planeta Plus plans to lodge an appeal.

"We don't agree with this verdict because no one listened to us. Because of these laws against gay propaganda adopted here, because of these cheap publicity tricks, all viewers suffer,” Yevgeny Filkenstein, the general-director of Planeta Plus, was quoted as saying.

“Just recently, Peter Gabriel, who has never performed in Russia, refused to come because of this law and because he supported Pussy Riot.”

The St. Petersburg law predates federal legislation banning the “propaganda of homosexuality among minors.” The Hollywood Reporter said Madonna was also sued under the St. Petersburg anti-propaganda law after her show in the city in August 2012, but a court threw out the case. 

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