Vladimir Putin HATES this meme so much Russia banned it
A viral meme appears to have hurt poor Russian President Vladimir Putin's very sensitive feelings.
Last week, the Russian justice ministry added an image of Putin as a gay clown to its list of banned extremist images. The government now has a list of over 4,000 images they consider "extremist propaganda," including, apparently, memes of clowns.
The meme emerged in 2013 after Russia began to crack down on the LGBTQ community and banned sharing "nontraditional sexual relations propaganda" with children.
The meme has exploded in recent years as the government aggressively policed free speech and sexual minorities.
There are now multiple variations of the meme, and it's unclear which one specifically is banned.
The ministry banned the image because it suggested that Putin suffered from an "alleged nonstandard sexual orientation" (aka is gay). According to Radio Free Europe, the ministry based its ruling on the criminal case of Aleksandr Tsvetkov, who was accused of sharing hate speech by posting gay Putin memes on Vkontakte, a Russian social networking site.
He was sent to psychiatric care after his trial, so yea, things are bleak in Russia.
Heather was the Web Trends reporter at Mashable NYC. Prior to joining Mashable, Heather wrote regularly for UPROXX and GOOD Magazine, was published in The Daily Dot and VICE, and had her work featured in Entertainment Weekly, Jezebel, Mic, and Gawker. She loves small terrible dogs and responsible driving. Follow her on Twitter @wear_a_helmet.
