Singer Sir Elton John says he won't cancel a planned Moscow
concert because he wants to support Russia's gay community.
Speaking to UK's The
Guardian, John said that he'll have to watch what he says
while in Russia to avoid running afoul of a recently enacted law that
bans the public promotion of “gay propaganda” to minors.
“I'm supposed to be going to Moscow in December,” he said.
“I've got to go. And I've got to think about what I'm going to say
very carefully. There's two avenues of thought: do you stop everyone
going, ban all the artists coming in from Russia? But then you're
really leaving the men and women who are gay and suffering under the
anti-gay laws in an isolated situation. As a gay man, I can't leave
those people on their own without going over there and supporting
them. I don't know what's going to happen, but I've got to go.”
He added that parenthood with his partner David Furnish has
changed him. In January, the couple welcomed their second son.
“I always thought I might be really irritable with kids, but no
way. Both my parents had tempers and it frightened the shit out of
me. I don't ever want to display that in front of the children. In
the past, particularly when I was on drugs, there was a monstrous
side to me, but I'm not really like that. I can be like that
briefly, but everyone can. People say: 'Look, he's a fucking
monster.' Hang around anybody in fucking showbiz, baby, and you'll
see! We all have our sides like that.”
(Related: Elton
John, David Furnish welcome second son.)