Editor-in-chief of the Homiel District Executive Committee newspaper Mayak, Viktoryia Futryna, called the band Drozdzy traitors and criticised their performance at Independence Day celebrations in Homiel. Several days later, she recorded a “repentance video” in which she apologised to the musicians. The video was posted on Threads by the band’s lead singer, Vital Karpanau.
In her column in the Mayak newspaper on July 8, Futryna expressed dissatisfaction that the band had performed at the Independence Day celebrations, saying that in 2020 the group “stood under the white-red-white flag, but as soon as things got tough, they immediately changed sides”. She called the artists traitors and asked: “Can those who betrayed once be forgiven?”.
Drozdzy leader Vital Karpanau responded to the publication. He demanded an official apology from the propagandist.
“Yesterday I was sent a video in which one of the state media outlets once again called the Drozdzy band traitors … meanwhile, 2,700 people came to see these ‘traitors’ in concert today! Colleagues, when will you stop living in a parallel reality? While we wait for an official apology from this media outlet, look at how ordinary Belarusians love these guys!” Karpanau wrote.
Today, he posted a video of Futryna apologising on his Threads account. She said that she had “spoken badly about the Drozdzy band, accusing them of taking the wrong position in 2020”.
“I want to publicly apologise once again for that article because the information turned out not to have been fully verified by me and was incorrect. Essentially, I insulted the artists for no reason,” Futryna said.
