By Mark Savage
BBC Music Correspondent
Copyright: Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of “trying to cancel” Russia, as he cited the backlash against British author JK Rowling.
“Today they are trying to cancel a thousand-year-old country. I am talking about the progressive discrimination against everything connected with Russia,” Putin said in televised remarks, mentioning Russian music and literature.
Putin likened “cancel culture” to Nazis trying to burn books in the 1930s.
The Russian president also mentioned how British author JK Rowling had been “cancelled” because “she didn’t satisfy the demands of gender rights”.
Rowling has faced criticism for her views on transgender issues.
She has previously said she is concerned about a “new trans activism”, saying it was “pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender”.
The author has promised to match donations up to £1m to a charity she co-founded to help children in Ukraine.
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