On January 29, a Georgian-language Facebook account shared a video of a half-naked man singing in Ukrainian. According to the author of the post, the person depicted in the video will represent Ukraine at Eurovision 2024. The user points to the “history of fallen humanity,” claiming that no one can fix the situation in the world.
The claim that the person depicted in the video will represent Ukraine at Eurovision 2024 is disinformation and serves to discredit Ukraine. In the video, we see a concert by the Ukrainian band – Хамерман знищує віруси. This performance of the band received criticism in Ukraine as well, including by political officials.
On January 26, a concert of the Ukrainian musical group “Хамерман знищує віруси” was held in the Rozhdestvo Hotel in the Ukrainian resort of Drahobrat. The musical show took place with typical details for the band: its members stood almost naked on the stage. The mentioned video was initially distributed by the Ukrainian journalist Vitaly Glagola on his Telegram channel who wrote that a “naked party” was held in the hotel, and the main questions were addressed to the hotel owners.
The musical group Хамерман знищує віруси will not represent Ukraine at Eurovision 2024. It is not yet known who will represent Ukraine at Eurovision. The final of the national selection, in which 11 musicians or music groups participate, will be held in Ukraine on February 3.
Musical group Хамерман знищує віруси was founded in Sumy in 1996 and is distinguished by similar performances. Years ago, they held the so-called naked party in the Ivano-Frankivsk region and also caused criticism. Ukrainian media, Заборона, based on the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, wrote that the local government took the initiative to consecrate the concert space and filed a case of hooliganism. As the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk wrote on social media, before the concert they received a promise from the organizers that Christian values would be protected. At the same time, the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian media КУРС, Sergiy Boris, published a letter from the Ivano-Frankivsk Region Department of the National Police of Ukraine that they had to provide more information to the police regarding the concert of Хамерман ніджује вирузи.
The Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk, criticized the current concert, the “naked party” of Хамерман знищує віруси. In a post published on Facebook, Vereshchuk writes that the “naked party” is a provocative event and should not happen during wartime. Vereshchuk addresses the local government and notes that she does not believe that they cannot do anything to stop such events.
Ukrainian media СЛУХ published the comment of Albert Tsukrenko, the group’s vocalist, about the “naked party” and the response of government officials to it. He recalled the events of 2018, the initiation of a criminal case due to the concert, and said that now they are waiting to see how the current story will end. And, regarding Vereshchuk’s response, he said: “As for the problems of high-ranking officials, the longer I live, the more I am convinced that they create all the problems with their own hands.”
About the Source:
Facebook user Giorgi Abashidze often spreads disinformation and conspiracy theories. The false information published by Abashidze was debunked by “Myth Detector” a number of times in the past (1, 2, 3).
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