Foreign ministry accuses 36-year-old Milos Bikovic of being ‘the Kremlin’s foreign mouthpiece’
25 January 2024
Ukraine has hit out at HBO for casting a pro-Russia actor in its new season of The White Lotus, calling him a supporter of “genocide”.
The American broadcaster announced earlier this month that Milos Bikovic, the Serbian actor, would star in the acclaimed comedy-drama’s third season set in Thailand, with filming due to start in February.
It was met with fury by Kyiv, who said Bikovic had supported Russia’s bloody invasion of their country and accepted awards from Vladimir Putin, having acquired Russian citizenship three years ago.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a post on Twitter: “Milos Bikovic, Serbian actor who has been supporting Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion, is now set to star in HBO’s The White Lotus Season 3.
“HBO, is it alright for you to work with a person who supports genocide and violates international law?”
An accompanying video made by the foreign ministry accused the actor of being “the Kremlin’s foreign mouthpiece”, saying he had attempted to justify the “hostile seizure” of Crimea and eastern Ukraine by Russian forces.
It quoted Mr Bikovic as saying that “Russia has accepted me since my first time here”.
He reportedly said: “I have inherited Russian values and they resonate with mine.”
The 36-year-old actor has starred in a number of Russian films, with Ukraine accusing him of taking part in productions filmed in Crimea after its annexation by Moscow in 2014.
At a Kremlin ceremony in 2018, Putin awarded him the Pushkin Medal, one of Russia’s top cultural prizes, for his work in promoting the country’s culture.
When he was awarded Russian citizenship by presidential decree in 2021, Mr Bikovic said: “It is a great honour to say today: Russia is my homeland.”
He added that he was “an active member of Russian society”. Mr Bikovic has previously praised the cultural and historical links between Serbia and Russia.
‘Is this humane?’
Inna Sovsun, a Ukrainian MP, was one of several high-profile figures who criticised HBO’s decision.
“While Ukrainians are dying from Russian shelling daily, Serbian actor Milos Bikovic, known for his support of the Russian attack on Ukraine, will star in the new season of The White Lotus. HBO – is this humane?” she said.
The first two seasons of its award-winning showwere set in Hawaii and Sicily and revolved around the antics of entitled, wealthy guests and the long-suffering staff who serve them in five-star hotels.
Mike White, the creator of the anthology, said in November that the latest instalment would be a “super-sized” offering.
“It’s going to be longer, bigger, crazier. I don’t know what people will think, but I am super excited, so at least for my own barometer, that’s a good thing,” he said.
The Telegraph contacted HBO for comment.
“He reportedly said: “I have inherited Russian values and they resonate with mine.”
Serbia is a rotten, hopelessly corrupt country that is absolutely swarming with putinoid scum.
Ban Serbs from fucking everything.
HBO are cunts. They obviously knew about this arsehole’s views before they hired him.
If he wasn’t such a washed-up, talentless turd-arse, they’d probably hire Steven Segal too.
Selected comments from DT readers :
Sean Beals:
When will HBO aka MAX add Steven Seagal to the cast? Or maybe have Putin pansy Oliver Stone direct an episode?
Dario O’Grady
He is a serb, of course he embraces rape, violence and warfare against others as a normal human condition.
Robert Oliver
Serbia and Russia are sides of the same coin so hardly surprising.Remember what started WW1.
Joel Pacheco
Russia’s genocidal values are definitely Serbian ones.
A sickening comment from kremtroll vermin :
Collective Western Folly:
It’s not illegal to support Russia.
To me all three sides are as bad as each other. Ukraine (the administration) is stupid, deeply corrupt and suffers from large numbers of neo nazi nationalists … who partially caused this by attacking Russian civilians in Donbas for 8 years ignoring the Minsk agreements. They stupidly threw what was a good peace plan (Zelenskys) out the window due to pressure and promises from us.
The US NATOFied Ukraine 5bln$ +++ 08-14 to antagonise Russia and goad them into invading (Pentagon warned 3x). Nuland then organised a coup in 2014 …. Then they and the EU (according to Merkel) got Russia to sign the Minsk agreements so we had time to arm and equip the ultra nationalists in the Donbas. Killed 13~15k people. They funded 24 bioweapons labs in Ukraine. Then they blew up Nordstream. Etc etc … They used the lives of 500k young Ukrainian men to fight their proxy war for them … as confirmed by Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham.
Russia is as corrupt as Ukraine and although US actions could, with much justification, be said to be responsible for the present situation, at the end of the day Russia shouldn’t have invaded another country.
Richard Noble:
Reply to Collective Western Folly
Get back under your rock Ivan.
JC CW
Reply to Collective Western Folly
Smallest paragraph reserved for the party that has invaded another country, murdered thousands of its citizens and is intent on wiping it out. I think you should evaluate your morals as your compass seems broken.
Dario O’Grady
Reply to Collective Western Folly
Silly Ivan, one day soon Ukraine will be free of the Russian yoke and they will live free of fear, while you will always have to get worried about what you say, do, or support or you will just be simply eliminated as a corrupt non Russian, enjoy your hell as you won’t live as long as your western counterpart.
Robert Dodger
The CEO of Warner Bros (who own HBO) is David Zaslav. He has Jewish and Ukrainian heritage and the response from HBO will be interesting.
There are many different types of cockroaches in this world, some are called russians, some are called serbians, some iranians, and others are north koreans.