TNT blurred out “foreign agent” comedians in old issues

TV channel TNT4 cut comedians Ruslan Bely and Semyon Slepakov from old broadcasts of the Comedy Battle program. In the footage in which they did remain, they were blurred out. Ruslan Bely spoke about this on the channel of comedian Slava Komissarenko.

According to Bely, he learned about this from messages from people on Instagram who began sending him fragments of broadcasts on TNT4.

“On TNT4 there are reruns of all the shows that were previously filmed on TNT. And there are [episodes] of Comedy Battle from some time immemorial, in which I and Semyon Slepakov are sitting. All our speeches were cut out from this Comedy Battle, but [fragments] remained where we were in the frame, and we were blurred out there. “I’m completely shocked,” said the comedian.

The Ministry of Justice added Semyon Slepakov to the register of “foreign agents” in April 2023, and Ruslan Bely in September . The department considered that Bely not only opposed the war, but also “carried out activities aimed at creating a negative image of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” Slepakov, according to the Ministry of Justice, “formed a negative attitude towards military service and public service in general,” and also “spoke negatively” about Russians. Both comedians tried to challenge their inclusion in the list, but the courts sided with the Ministry of Justice.

Previously, TNT cut Ruslan Bely from the Stand Up program, which he hosted since 2013 and was its producer. The TV channel also removed the song “How much money does it take to become happy”, which was sung by Semyon Slepakov, from the intro of the series “House Arrest”. Then Slepakov was included in the list of musicians whose songs were banned from being performed at the student festival in Pskov.

Both Semyon Slepakov and Ruslan Bely opposed the war in Ukraine. Now they both live outside of Russia.

To receive the main news faster, subscribe to our telegram and Twitter .