Men who held hands in Moscow viral video had to pretend to be anti-gay to avoid violence
Two men featured in a viral video during which they held hands in Moscow to gauge people’s reactions have said they pretended to be anti-gay to avoid violence.
ChebuRussia TV of YouTube decided to conduct the social experiment to see what would happen when two men holding hands walked through the streets of Moscow, Russia.
The footage was captured by a third member walking in front of them with a camera hidden in his bag, and the shocking video since went viral.
The men, both straight, said: “For one part of the planet, it’s fine [to be gay]. If two men hold hands, nobody will laugh at them. So we decided to see how it would he here. The idea was simple: how will people react to what is ordinary behaviour?”
The men said they were not scared, but that they had to pretend that they supported anti-gay legislation to avoid physical violence.
“His reaction was pretty usual,” they said.
“We told him we were making a video. But we lied a little bit so as not to provoke any aggression. We told him we supported anti-gay propaganda. He told us: ‘Well done! Keep it up.'”
