Senior Russian TV Host on "Moonlight" Oscar Win: Protagonist Should Have Been Given HIV

Senior Russian TV host Dmitri Kisiliov, commenting on the Oscar ceremony, said that the event had been "political compensation" for last year's "white" ceremony and that the multitude of black nominees was "yet one more attempt to take a jab at Trump." His comments aired on March 5 on Russia 1's weekly flagship news summary.

Dmitri Kisiliov: "Hollywood succeeds in demonstrating genuinely miraculous tolerance. Thus the highest award, the Oscar, went to the movie 'Moonlight.' The protagonist is black, the son of a drug-addicted prostitute. He has been bullied since childhood, becoming aware of his non-traditional sexual orientation, until he grew up to become a masculine gay gangster with gold teeth. His soul, however, remains tender and vulnerable.

"In order to complete the list of the protagonist's 'tolerant' features, they should have given him HIV, and chopped off a limb or two. But even in the absence of such an addition, the proposed scheme was sufficient for the American movie academy to declare that such a flat and drawn-out movie was the best. It looks like political compensation for last year's Oscar ceremony, which was considered too 'white.' At the moment, the rolling back to black is tangible. The multitude of black nominees - actors, screenwriters, screenwriters, and directors - is a nostalgic echo of the Barack Obama era, and is yet one more attempt to take a jab at Trump."