The Killers apologizes for incident after inviting Russian citizen as drummer on a Georgian stage

The Killers, an American rock band, on Tuesday had to apologize for an incident and protests caused by inviting a Russian citizen as a drummer on the stage of the Black Sea Arena, in Western Georgia, during a concert funded by the Georgian Government. 

The audience’s protest was caused by the group’s soloist, Brandon Flowers, taking the drummer from the hall to the stage, who turned out to be a Russian citizen.

He asked the audience if it was acceptable to them that the chosen drummer turned out to be Russian, on the backdrop of Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the occupation of 20 percent of the Georgian territory by Russia. 

Despite hearing the strongly negative attitude of some of the listeners gathered in the hall and shouts from the crowds that “Russia is an occupier” the band performed a composition with the Russian national. The musician himself said that music connected people and those in the audience were “sisters and brothers”. 

In its social media post, the Killers wrote “good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone”. 

The band also pointed to its “longstanding tradition” of inviting people to play drums and added it seemed from the stage that the initial response from the crowd had indicated they had no problem with the selected person. 

“We recognize that a comment, meant to suggest that all of The Killers’ audience and fans are ‘brothers and sisters’, could be misconstrued. We did not mean to upset anyone and we apologize. We stand with you and hope to return soon”, the Killers said. 

The concert hall Black Sea Arena also responded to the incident and extended its “sincere apologies”. 

“We understand the emotions of our guests. The performance of an artist on the stage is not the position of the Black Sea Arena. We realize our share of responsibility”, it said. .The Government of Georgia has plans to spend about $27 million to hold concerts with the participation of foreign artists. In addition to The Killers, an Imagine Dragon concert has also been scheduled in the country.