AP Photos
Pop star Elton John and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015 | 12:12 p.m.
One is celebrated for his macho bravura, and has been known to wield a rifle and hunt tiger (with a tranquilizer gun). The other is known for his elaborate costumes, ballads and gay activism.
But the two men — Russian President Vladimir Putin and pop star Elton John — came together in a phone conversation the singer said was initiated by the Kremlin.
“Thank-you to President Vladimir Putin for reaching out and speaking via telephone with me today,” John wrote in an Instagram post on Monday afternoon that went largely unnoticed for a day. “I look to forward to meeting with you face-to-face to discuss LGBT equality in Russia.”
In recent years, Russia has drawn criticism from human rights groups for enacting legislation restricting the activities of gay rights organizations.
The conversation, which a spokesman for John confirmed, evidently stemmed from a BBC interview over the weekend in which the singer spoke about music’s power to encourage tolerance. John was in Ukraine recently and met its president, Petro Poroshenko, to discuss gay rights.
In the interview, John said of Putin, “I’d love to sit down with him and talk to him.” He added, “The world faces much bigger problems than gay people.”
Apparently, someone in the Kremlin noticed.
Whether Putin’s gesture will lead to anything more substantive remains to be seen. John was hoping to arrange a face-to-face talk, saying of Putin in the interview: “Let’s have a cup of tea, let’s talk about this.”
The Kremlin did not say Tuesday whether Putin would respond to that invitation.
John resumes his residency, "The Million Dollar Piano" on Oct. 13 at Caesars Palace.
