Reporter James Kirchick was kicked off the air of Russian TV Wednesday after he refused to talk about Bradley Manning and instead spoke about the Russian government's anti-gay laws.
August 21, 2013

Reporter James Kirchick was kicked off the air of Russian TV Wednesday after he refused to talk about Bradley Manning and instead spoke about the Russian government's anti-gay laws.

"Being here on a Kremlin-funded propaganda network, I'm going to wear my gay pride suspenders and speak out against the horrific, anti-gay legislation that Vladimir Putin has signed into law," Kirchick said.

RT is funded by the Russian government, which recently passed a sweeping law that bans the public discussion of gay rights and relationships in the presence of children.

As Kirchick continued to speak about the laws and the government's funding of the network, one RT host insisted to Kirchick, "You have to come over here and see for yourself."

"You have 24 hours a day to lie about America, I am going to tell the truth with my two minutes," Kirkchick went on to say after RT hosts tried to cut him off.

Kirchick was cut out of the rest of the segment, and according to his Twitter feed, was almost dropped off on the side of the highway on his way to the airport when Russia Today called the taxi company to pull the service. But the cab took him the rest of the way, free of charge.

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