The Chechen capital of Grozny in southern Russia has suspended ticket sales for the popular South Korean boy band BTS’ concert documentary following social media pressure.
“BTS World Tour: Love Yourself in Seoul” opens for one day only worldwide, including in scores of Russian cities, on Jan. 26. Last month, Makhachkala, Dagestan canceled ticket sales for the concert film after a local group that opposes “immoral behavior” warned against the “Korean homosexuals.”
Grozny became the second Russian city to scrap “BTS World Tour” after one of its three cinemas announced late last week that “ticket sales for BTS’ concert have been suspended.”
Russian news outlets reported that the catalyst for the disrupted sales in the Muslim-majority city was a conservative page on Russian social media, which called the premiere “the best way to offend the Chechen people.”
The conservative page, which had been suspended for several months in late 2017 and early 2018, decried characterizations of “fanaticism” and “terrorism” following the backlash it faced online.
“One should understand it’s not at all about the film. It’s about our opposition to assimilation,” its authors wrote Monday.
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