Russian politican: 'Ban Apple CEO Tim Cook from the country'

A Russian politician has called for Apple CEO Tim Cook to be banned form the country for life for being gay.

St Petersburg council member Vitaly Milonov made the comments shortly after Cook publicly acknowledged his sexuality for the first time yesterday (October 30), FlashNord reports, in quotes translated by Buzzfeed.

Responding to Tim Cook’s statement that he was “proud to be gay”, Milonov said: “What could he bring us? The Ebola virus, AIDS, gonorrhea? They all have unseemly ties over there.”

The 40-year-old, who’s been a public driving force behind Russia’s controversial anti-gay ‘propaganda’ laws, went on to claim that all gay people are “all promiscuous” and urged Russian officials to “ban him for life.”

Milonov is one of Russia’s most prominent anti-gay campaigners. As well as promoting Russia’s new anti-gay laws, he has previously appeared on Stephen Fry’s gay documentary sereis Out There, in which he branded the openly gay writer and actor a “bringer of evil”.

Tim Cook’s announcement yesterday made him the most prominent openly gay man in the world of business and technology. There are currently no other openly gay CEOs in the world’s 700 largest corporations.

In his announcement yesterday, the Apple boss said he had been open about his sexuality “for years”, but that he hoped speaking about it in public would help people who were struggling with their own – click here to read more.

Russian politican: ‘Ban Apple CEO Tim Cook from the country’

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