Russian state television channel TNT pulled Ukrainian actor-turned-president Volodymyr Zelensky’s show “Servant of the People” after one evening this week.
The premiere came a day after Zelensky met for the first time in person with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a summit in Paris,seeking to end a long-running conflict in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border.
Zelensky joked last night that broadcasting the show, which foreshadowed his ascent to the presidency, must have been a mistake by
the Russian channel, owned by natural gas export monopoly Gazprom.
It’s obvious that it was a “major error by the broadcaster or the part of the government that controls Russia’s information policy,” Zelensky
said in comments aired by Ukrainian channel 1+1.
In the sitcom “Servant of the People,” Zelensky plays an outspoken schoolteacher who unexpectedly wins Ukraine’s presidential election after a candid video of him bad-mouthing the current government goes
viral.
Zelensky jokes about Putin early in the series. After winning the presidency, Zelensky’s character is handed a luxury Hublot watch, a
brand said to have been proudly worn by Putin.
Ukraine’s new leader replies, “Putin – Hublot?” a pun on a swear word used in an anti-Putin slogan popular in Ukraine.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine have fallen to an all-time low since the conflict erupted five years ago in response to Kiev ousting its then pro-Russian president in a political pivot towards the West.
Zelensky, inaugurated this year, has set out to end the conflict as his top priority.
dpa/NAN