Russia has been consumed by half-naked dancing videos set to the club-hit “Satisfaction” after a scandalous video was released earlier this week.
Made by students at a civil aviation institute in Ulyanovsk, the video features a dozen or so young men clad in cadet caps, chest straps, and boxer shorts, thrusting their hips in a dance orgy. Immediately, the boys started taking flak because the video has homoerotic overtones.
After the stunt gained national attention, the school’s management, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, and the transport prosecutor’s office all promised to review the situation and take disciplinary measures, calling the video an “immoral episode”. The institute’s dean has compared the dance video to Pussy Riot’s infamous church concert, arguing that “the Ulyanovsk Institute of Civil Aviation is a church of science that gives students a life path.”
The local governor, however, said he doesn’t want to see the students from the video expelled from the institute.
The backlash from state and school officials sparked a flashmob of support from other universities.
In the following days, male or female students from a nautical school, a medical institute, a building and construction university as well as pupils from agricultural schools in Ulyanovsk and Ryazanovo posted similar videos. Another one appeared depicting dancing young men wearing Emergency Situations Ministry t-shirts and uniforms.
Dozens of thousands of people have signed a petition in support of the civil aviation students on the Change.org website.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), demanded an immediate end to the “persecution” of these young people.
“The guys were [just] dancing, they’re 17-18, they’re young. Their costumes are fine too: it’s hot over there, the heating is fierce, 25 degrees Celsius. Why should they sweat?,” the news agency RIA Novosti quoted the politician as saying.
Even St. Petersburg retirees joined the flashmob to support the students’ independent-minded movement
Update Feb. 2, 2018: The cadets at the Ulyanovsk civil aviation institute have been officially reprimanded, but not expelled, by their school. Rector Sergey Krasnov said in a statement that the young men “dishonored themselves, the entire institute, and the aviation industry as a whole.” The school also sat down with the students and their parents to chat about their terrible deed, reports Meduza.io.
This article combines reports from Meduza and The Moscow Times.
