Movie stars Hillary Swank (two-time Best Actress) and Jean-Claude Van Damme (is he still a star?), violinist Vanessa Mae, and British musician Seal (WTF?) are taking heat for appearing at the gala birthday party in Grozny honoring Chechnya's President Ramzan Kadyrov, a corrupt, brutal thug who runs Chechnya.
Swank has since apologized for her gaffe and claims she did not know of Kadyrov's reputation, although that charge is refuted (see following video) by a human rights group. She will give her fee to charity. The other stars have not yet apologized or offered to return/donate their fees.
Seal said he did it "for the Chechen people and not Kadyrov's inner circle." Nice try!
Here is the video of the news report from Al-Jazeera English:
Here is Swank's 'performance':
Way to go, guys!
"I deeply regret attending this event. If I had full understanding of what the event was apparently intended to be, I would never have gone." -- Hillary Swank
[Translation: "I got over a million bucks to attend this; I'd be a fuckin' moron not to take the gig. Unfortunately, I got called out and so I'm now sorry I got caught speaking at this bozo's birthday party. I'm also firing my publicist, who has the intelligence of a small soap dish."]
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