Kristina Rihanoff has faced a fierce backlash from fans after sharing a series of “insensitive” tweets about Russia invading Ukraine. The professional Russian ballroom dancer and ex-strictly star retweeted a cartoon showing the three Western leaders Boris Johnson, Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau with blood on their hands.
The Tweet, which Rihanoff had captioned “Don’t even have to say anything – pure genius,” showed Trudeau depicted in blackface and Johnson holding a glass of wine, referencing the party scandal which was unveiled at the end of 2021, while Biden was drawn pointing, with the words “Russian man bad” written in a speech bubble, reports the Mirror.
The TV star later retweeted a headline shared by Sky News announcing that Russia had been kicked out of the Eurovision Song Contest, set to take place later this year. “F….ing breaking news,” Kristina wrote.
She added: “Are you for real @SkyNews ? WTF! And where are we at with bringing @BorisJohnson accountable for ruining thousands of small business while parting during lockdowns?????? This tweet EVERYTHING WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE UK MEDIA & USELESS @GOVUK #Eurovision” [sic].
(Image: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)
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But the tweets backfired for the 44-year-old, sparking an angry backlash from former fans, with one Twitter-user even getting into a heated back-and-forth with the Russian dancer. They replied: “Sorry Kristina, I have always liked you but I can’t believe you’ve posted this given the horror happening in Ukraine! Completely inappropriate, you should be ashamed of yourself!”
The tweet evidently touched a nerve, with Kristina replying: “You obviously completely oblivious to how Russians were treated by extremists there for 8 yrs. I have family & friends there abused for simply speaking Russian! So don’t go on my timeline & preach to me U don’t have to follow me either in fact I’ll give you a favour and block you”.
But others were similarly beginning to unfollow Rihanoff; one person wrote: “In VERY poor taste, unfollowed.” Another replied: “Yet another insensitive tweet … extremely disappointed and concerned as people are losing their lives. If this happened to your country, as you alluded to earlier, then you should know how scary it is for these people.”
Rihanoff later back-tracked, posting another Tweet at 6.20pm this evening (Sunday, February 27), to say: “I made fun of Eurovision tweet by Sky. I did think there was far more important information on that day than Eurovision. This is in any form says I was supporting what’s happening at the moment between Russia & Ukraine.
“It’s absolutely devastating for someone like me who’s grandad from Ukraine and I gave Ukrainian name to my daughter – Milena. My best friend is also from Ukraine. I grew up with knowledge that we were one nation and one country.” The dancing star went on to describe how “Seeing the news is breaking my heart as I have Russian friends who live in UKRAINE and vice versa.”
The message went on in this vein, with Rihanoff describing how political leaders should have “found the way a long time ago to sort this out peacefully,” before later adding: “I’m not supporting Putin, war, invasion, lost lives and politics. I hate it as much as a human being possibly can. If I offended anyone it wasn’t my intention and I’m deeply sorry.”
She told fans: “You can hate me if this will give you comfort but if I didn’t say something you wanted me to say it’s bcs sadly I’m powerless doing anything to help anyone in both countries and I don’t believe in useless posts which can’t help to save lives. I can only hope and pray like everyone else that this is over soon.”
This is not the first time that Kristina has hinted at holding controversial views on Twitter. The dancer also recently retweeted a statement by GB News journalist Lucy Jones, who, alongside colleagues including Julia Hartley-Brewer, has been vocal in her opposition to Covid restrictions.
“My uni ‘friends’ today messaged me saying they didn’t want to invite me to group meet ups because of my “views on Covid” & company I work for. Really have learnt who my real friends are the last two years,” the tweet read.
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