Rounding on Leto’s remarks, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry also said that there “can be no appeasement for Russia.”
The controversy dates back to a performance last week by Leto’s band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, in Belgrade, Serbia. While addressing the audience, Leto said that he felt “Russian energy” in the crowd and asked how many attendees were originally from Russia, media outlet The Telegraph reported.
“We missed you guys;, you know that. I tell you what, one day, when all these problems are finished, we’re gonna come visit you in your homeland,” the star, who bagged the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2014 for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, told the crowd.
“We’re going to come back to Serbia; we’re gonna go up to St. Petersburg, over to Moscow;, we’re going to drop to Kyiv; we’re going to party and hang out with everybody, okay…the way it should be,” he added.
Foreign ministry response
In response, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded condemnation.
“Jared Leto’s ‘feeling the Russian energy’ and his wish to perform in Russia is an insult to those sacrificing lives to defend freedom,” the ministry said.
“The so-called ‘Russian energy’ has a clear definition: destroyed homes, shattered lives, tortured, raped, and murdered civilians, prisoners of war executed in violation of international law, killed animals, and wiped off cities,” the ministry added.
“There can be no appeasement for Russia when it continues its attempts to solve [the] ‘problem’ of Ukraine’s very existence,” it added.
Earlier support for Ukraine
Leto has previously shown public support for Ukraine. During Ukraine’s 2013-2014 pro-European revolution, known as the ‘Revolution of Dignity,’ Leto honored the “heavenly 100” protesters who were killed during the uprising, The Telegraph reported.
At the time, Leto voiced his support for freedom movements worldwide, telling an audience, "All the dreamers out there around the world… in places like Ukraine and Venezuela … as you struggle to make your dreams happen and live the impossible, we are thinking of you”.
Despite his previous support for Ukraine’s pro-democracy movements, Leto’s latest remarks have been seen as insensitive to the suffering caused by Russia’s invasion and a failure to fully recognize the impact of the war.
