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Russian Sitcom Actor Says Gay People Should Be Burned Alive In Ovens

Ivan Okhlobystin (left) with co-star Svetlana Kamynina
Photo via Russian NTV-KINO

By Brody Levesque | NOVOSIBIRSK -- A Russian actor who stars on a popular sitcom said Wednesday he wants to burn gay people alive as they pose a danger to his children. Ivan Okhlobystin, who plays Dr. Bykov on the popular series "Interns" was speaking with fans in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk in  a scheduled paid appearance.

During a question and answer period afterwards Okhlobystin was asked,"How do you feel about homosexuals and their parades?" 

His response was that he would burn them alive in the oven,

"I would have them all alive in the oven stuffed. This is Sodom and Gomorrah, as a believer, I can not be indifferent to this, it is a living danger to my children! 

I do not want my children thought that fucking faggots are normal. This is fascism! If a man can not choose his own kind of the opposite sex for reproduction - is a clear sign of mental abnormality."

Okhlobystin also demanded that "faggots" be stripped of their voting rights to the applause of the audience.

The 47-year-old actor, one of Russia's most extravagant media personalities, served as an Orthodox Christian priest as well as acting until his priesthood was suspended in 2010. In 2011, he made a short-lived bid for the presidency as a candidate of the Kremlin-linked Right Cause party and this past year pledged to use proceedings from an upcoming book to buy arms for the besieged regime in Syria.

The actor is best known for "Interns," a sitcom directly inspired by the American television show "Scrubs." Although the show's producers describe the show as an original creation, Okhlobystin's character of an unsociable  doctor is a clear copy of a character in "Scrubs." "Interns" was rated Russia's best television show of 2012 in a survey by the Russian government run pollster firm VTsIOM a year ago this month.

The increasing anti-gay sentiment resulting in a climate of intolerance in the Russian Federation which has included violent attacks on LGBTQ Russians according to human rights groups and Russian LGBTQ rights activists has been fueled in part by the anti-gay ban signed into law six months ago by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

One LGBTQ activist who declined to be named pointed out that the Putin government while speaking publicly that it "intends no harm" towards LGBTQ people makes public displays that "obviously show the hatred."

He pointed to Monday's appointment by Putin of controversial news anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, to head a news agency that is set to replace RIA Novosti.  Kiselyov, the influential news anchor of Russia’s news program “Vesti,” appeared last August on Kremlin-controlled Russia 1 television, telling the audience that Russia’s law against “gay propaganda” doesn't go far enough.

“I think that just imposing fines on gays for homosexual propaganda among teenagers is not enough,” said Kiselyov. 

“Donation of blood and sperm should be forbidden from them. And their hearts, in case of accident, should be buried in the ground or burned because they are unsuitable for a continuation of life.”

During his appearance Wednesday Ohlobystin also called for tougher parenting techniques and cautioned the audience to strengthen their families by attending church.