Oleksiy Durnev: I'm ashamed that I made fun of Ukrainian-speaking people and those who supported the Maidan

Popular Ukrainian TV host, blogger and comedian Oleksiy Durnev admits that before the full-scale invasion, he did not have a conscious civic position. This was manifested, in particular, in the fact that the showman "joked" about Ukrainian-speaking compatriots, as well as those who supported Euromaidan. Now Durnev realizes that his humor was inappropriate and offensive to many people.

According to the host, he is still being hated for his old statements. He says that he has only now realized how painful some of his "jokes" were for some Ukrainians. For those who, back in 2013-2014, realized the need to separate themselves from everything Russian and Russia itself. Durnev shared his thoughts on this in an interview with the Razomov YouTube channel.

"I used to ridicule, as it seemed to me, people, in particular, Ukrainian speakers, those who supported the Maidan. I used to make up some stories and joke about it. It got to the point where I got a call from the TET TV channel, where I was working at the time, and they said: "Stop writing that! It's not funny". And I thought I was making a very good joke. Now I realize that it could have hurt a lot of people and I shouldn't have done it. It was not so much funny as traumatizing. Perhaps that was the goal I set for myself: to traumatize more, to cause some kind of reaction in people," Oleksiy recalled.

The blogger sincerely says that now he is ashamed of his own unconscious position of those years.

"Yes, I am ashamed of it. I shouldn't have done it. Now, when I come across these posts, I am reminded on social media of "10 years ago you said that," and I don't even see where I was trying to make a joke. When you grow up, you realize that not everything can be joked about, and that some people will be very painful to read this right now," the showman said.

The blogger noted that after February 24, 2022, he had been "in trouble" several times for those "jokes," but not much. However, some Internet users are still looking for Durnev's old provocative statements and publishing them in an attempt to remind society of the star's past mistakes. The showman himself assures that he does not react to this.

"I cannot change this. But I do believe that I am not the worst person from the past who has harmed Ukraine. Given that the processes of plundering the country did not stop for a second at that time. And for some reason, I'm the one who gets the blame, not the politicians who were in power at the time and still remain in Ukraine," Durnev said.

As OBOZ.UA previously wrote, Durnev admitted that he was especially worried about the news from the currently occupied Mariupol, where he comes from. Nevertheless, the showman tried to find a positive moment even in such a terrible situation. In his opinion, after Ukraine wins the war and all the territories captured by Russia are returned, Mariupol will have a chance to be reborn into something new and even become one of the most modern cities in the world.

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