Israel's Eurovision contender claims Russian passport control ripped his passport for being gay
Hovi Star says the incident took place at Moscow airport two weeks ago
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Your support makes all the difference.Israel’s contestant for the Eurovision song contest has claimed he was humiliated by Russian passport control due to his sexuality.
Hovi Star, an openly gay musician, says the incident took place at a Moscow airport two weeks ago.
The singer, whose real name is Hovav Sekulets, claimed the officers ripped his passport, told him he couldn’t enter Russia and laughed at him.
“In Moscow, people have a rough time with people like me, maybe because I’m gay, maybe because I dress like this, maybe because I wear make-up, I don’t know,” he told a Maltese TV station.
“They told me I couldn’t go in, they looked at my passport, they ripped my passport, and then they laughed at me,” the 29-year-old singer added.
Star trained as a hairstyle and makeup artist before going on to win the final round of the Israeli reality television singing competition HaKokhav Haba. He will represent Israel in the annual competition which is due to take place in Stockholm in May.
“Let’s take this as a lesson. I don’t take it personally, I really like [the Russian Eurovision entrant] Sergey Lazarov, I like his song, and I like Russia, I’ve been there many times. But it wasn’t a nice experience, we live, we learn, we continue, we smile and we give free love to everyone,” the musician added.
The Independent reached out to the Russian Embassy for comment.
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