Second Russian performer jailed for ‘chaotic’ sock-on-penis stunt

MOSCOW – A Russian singer was handed a 10-day prison sentence on Jan 9 after exposing himself fully naked on stage when a sock that he had been wearing over his penis fell off.

The verdict against Maxim Tesli, frontman of a band called Shchenki (The Puppies), was imposed by a St Petersburg court on the grounds of “petty hooliganism”.

It came less than two weeks after a rapper called Vacio was jailed for wearing nothing but a strategically placed sock at a Moscow celebrity party that caused a national scandal.

In ironic comments on its Telegram channel, the St Petersburg court service described Tesli as “the hero with the sock” and said it was pleased that he had turned up fully clothed to the hearing.

Video footage posted on social media showed Tesli on stage with the sock in place and then briefly naked without it, prompting shrieks from the audience.

“I regret it. It happened by accident. I didn’t think that this sock would fall off and it seemed like an appropriate performance, which, of course, was not the case,” the court service quoted him as saying.

He separately told an online news outlet, Mash, that his action was “absolutely chaotic” and stupid.

Tesli’s punishment came after rapper Vacio, whose real name is Nikolai Vasilyev, was jailed for 15 days in December 2023 and fined 200,000 roubles (S$2,970) for propaganda of “non-traditional sexual relations” after using a sock to hide his modesty at an “Almost Naked” party at a Moscow nightclub.

The event provoked a powerful backlash at a time when Russia is waging war in Ukraine and the authorities are promoting an increasingly conservative social agenda. Many of the stars who attended have since issued public apologies.

The Russian media has reported that the rapper’s initial 15-day sentence was later extended by another 10 days, and that he has been issued with a summons to appear at a military conscription office. REUTERS