The Opening Ceremony for the 2014 Sochi Olympics kicks off tomorrow night, featuring music performances from some of Russia’s finest, including violinist Yuri Bashment, conductor Valery Gergiev, and… uhhh, early 2000s faux-lesbian pop duo t.A.T.u.
Wait, really?
Hollywood Reporter is citing “Russian media” as a source for the news. Apparently Lena and Katina and Yulia Volkova, two heterosexual females who pretended to be lesbian teenagers during t.A.T.u’s rise to global fame a decade ago, have been seen rehearsing for the Ceremony, but it’s unclear if their live performance will be shown on US broadcasts. Word is the Russian Olympic teams will enter Fisht Olympic Stadium to the duo’s hit “Not Gonna Get Us,” off 2002’s 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane LP.
Added Hollywood Reporter: “Russian sports officials haven’t commented on how a performance by Russia’s best-known fake lesbian act is going to comply with the country’s recently-adopted law ‘against gay propaganda among minors.’ Technically, a lot of t.A.T.u. material is in violation of the law.”
A few years after being formed by producer Ivan Shapovalov in 1999, t.A.T.u. earned headlines here in the states when the duo made out during the 2003 MTV Video Awards, performing (you guessed it) “Not Gonna Get Us.”
Surely behavior like that tomorrow night will land them in a Russian prison.
Oh and by the way they also covered the Smiths…