Jonathan Van Ness, Queer Eye's
grooming guy, has called out singer Nicki Minaj for appearing on the
cover of the Russian edition of Harper's Bazaar.
Van Ness suggested that Minaj had
turned her back on the LGBT community by appearing on the cover of a
Russian magazine.
“Russia has anti-LGBTQIA propaganda
laws, Chechnya supported by Russia tortures its LGBTQIA citizens, &
w your LGBTQ+ fans you can't even speak to that in this interview bc
it's illegal in Russia, what's good @nickiminaj, this should've been
a hard pass,” Van Ness captioned a photo of the cover on Instagram.
Russia has outlawed what it calls gay
propaganda, which essentially prohibits speaking positively of the
LGBT community in public. The law has been used to shut down LGBT
Pride marches and screenings of movies with positive depictions of
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters.
Russia has also rejected calls to
investigate reports that authorities in Chechnya, a Muslim-majority
republic of Russia, are persecuting men suspected of being gay.
While some fans praised Van Ness for
speaking out, others argued that Russians should not be deprived from
seeing their favorite singer on Russian newsstands.
“Anyway really happy today, didn't
mean to start a Twitter war,” Van Ness tweeted, “I'm just
disappointed in some people where I'm sitting in life & start
noticing things. Biggest hug to everyone.”
Minaj, 35, is considered an ally to the
LGBT community.