Olympian Johnny Weir discussed filming
To Russia With Love during his recent Ask Me Anything on
Reddit.com.
The documentary follows Weir, tennis
legend and official U.S. Olympic delegate Billie Jean King and
several other openly gay athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games,
which took place in Sochi shortly after the Russian government
approved a law that prohibits the promotion of “gay propaganda”
to minors.
Weir, who provided commentary for NBC
at the games, was asked by a fan about his experience shooting the
film.
“Something that I learned is that the
will of any activist or any person that their rights are being
violated and they are fighting for equality is that they are so
strong,” Weir answered. “The Russian LGBT community is close
knit and so strong. And I believe the Russian LGBT community
will solve this problem from within, themselves.”
“I'm going to go off on a tangent:
one of the greatest experiences while working on this documentary was
meeting a young Russian gay activist named Vlad who was able to sit
in front of me directly and show me what his life was about and what
he was going through in Russia, a country that I love so much. And
because he was able to do that, and because he was able to lift my
rose-colored glasses, I was able to see something that I knew I had
to fight for with this film, and with as many people seeing this film
and getting educated as possible.”
“I also began to appreciate activism
for what it is. And appreciate the lives and energy of so many men
and women,” he added.
To
Russia With Love premiered Wednesday on EPIX.