Things are not going well in Russia. Granted, things are better in Russia than they currently are in Ukraine (due to Vladimir Putin’s big, dumb war), but still, it’s all a freaking mess. And the resulting confusion couldn’t be more evident from how the Russian government released a seemingly semi-random list of American public figures who will be permanently banned from having the pleasure of entering Russia. Granted, a lot of the names — like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Vide President — do make sense when it comes to a list of perceived Russian enemies, given that Russia’s awfully sore about sanctions.
The list truly grew weird, however, with the appearance of the late John McCain, who passed away in 2018 from brain cancer and obviously would never be traveling to Russia in the first place. Then came Morgan Freeman, who was apparently banned because he narrated a clip (alleging “cyber warfare” on behalf of the Kremlin) within The Committee To Investigate Russia, a 2017 project directed by Rob Reiner, also of This Is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Well, we haven’t yet seen a response from Freeman, but Deadline spoke with Reiner, who went the satirical/sarcastic route:
The veteran filmmaker, who was a surprise inclusion on a list published by Russia over the weekend, quipped to us: “No comment. Except to say that I’m heartbroken and will have to live with the disappointment.”
Yup, it’s time to adjust those (nonexistent) vacation plans. Then again, there’s probably no one heading into Russia for fun and pleasure these days, and this (confusing) list won’t help future tourism one bit. And the Kremlin sure can hold a grudge.
(Via Deadline)