Comedian Serhiy Chirkov was snatched away from the microphone while reading out Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s election promises and forcibly removed from the stage at Atlas Weekend.
This was reported by Censor.NET.
During his speech at the festival, Chirkov read Zelensky’s speech from the 2019 presidential debate on stage. The comedian reminded the audience of Zelensky’s promises about “the end of the era of poverty,” “the end of nepotism” and “the imminent end of the war.”
Eyewitnesses reported that the stand-up simply read out quotes without evaluating them or joking. During the performance, a security guard approached him, snatched the microphone and forcibly removed him from the stage.
The comedian later reported on social media that he is fine.
Atlas Festival later stated that there had been an “unfortunate misunderstanding” between Chirkov and one of the team members, who “exceeded his official authority and behaved unacceptably due to a misinterpretation of what was happening on stage.”
“For our part, on behalf of the organizers, we publicly apologize to Serhiy and his manager Daria for their unprofessional and unethical behavior and violation of physical boundaries,” the organizers said.
