On August 7, 2013, renowned English actor, writer and screenwriter Stephen Fry published an open letter to the British government and members of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) on his blog. In his address, he called for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
What Stephen Fry's open letter says
Stephen Fry's attitude towards the Olympic Games in Russia is caused by a bill to ban the promotion of homosexuality, recently passed by the State Duma. The actor calls this law barbaric and fascist, and also compares the infringement of the rights of gay people with the persecution of Jews during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. As Fry writes, then the Olympic movement ignored this fact, as a result, the Berlin Olympics gave the Fuhrer confidence and raised his status throughout the world.
As Stephen Fry says, separating sport from politics at the Olympics is a bad idea. The writer argues that it is necessary to impose a ban on the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia. He points to the incitement to suicide of persons of non-traditional sexual orientation, to their rape and beatings by members of the Nazi movement in Russia. Fry also claims that in Russia the police completely ignore cases of murder and violence against members of the LGBT community.
In addition, in his blog post, the actor says that defending or tolerantly discussing homosexuality has become illegal. As an example, he cites the impossibility of making a statement that Tchaikovsky's non-traditional sexual orientation influenced his contribution to art, and therefore the great composer can inspire creative representatives of sexual minorities. According to Stephen Fry, now you can't talk about it, otherwise you can be arrested. At the same time, the writer emphasized that he is very fond of Russian literature, music and theater.
Fry is open about being gay and Jewish. In March 2013, he visited St. Petersburg, where he met with the deputy Milonov, who was one of the initiators of the adoption of the law banning the promotion of homosexuality in Russia. The actor unsuccessfully tried to convince him to abandon his decision.
Stephen Fry emphasizes that his appeal is not so much about whether gay athletes will be safe in the Olympic Village, but about the basic principles of the Olympic movement. The writer recalls several IOC rules, which, according to him, are violated in Russia. These are rules on countering discrimination, cooperation for the promotion of humanism and on supporting the interaction of sport, culture and education.
Public reaction to Stephen Fry's call
British Prime Minister David Cameron did not support Stephen Fry's proposal to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics. In his microblog, Cameron first thanked the actor for his comment and expressed solidarity in concern over violations of the rights of sexual minorities. However, the prime minister added that, in his opinion, it is better not to boycott the Winter Olympics, but to fight prejudices by participating in it.
It is worth adding that Fry's proposed boycott of the Olympics is questionable even among gay rights advocates. In particular, LGBT activist Nikolai Alekseev believes that as a result of such a boycott, only the competitors themselves will suffer.
Nevertheless, Stephen Fry's call for a boycott of the Sochi Winter Olympics has generated a lot of public interest. Earlier, in 2012, Fry supported the punk band Pussy Riot in an open letter to the members. The actor is very popular: the audience of his personal blog on Twitter is more than 4.5 million people. Fry often appeals to his subscribers with an appeal to support this or that charitable organization.
