Whaddya know? Russians, like most other people, aren't too fond of international pop stars mocking their national stereotypes in music videos.
It seems that Robbie Williams has annoyed a lot of them with his video for new single 'Party Like a Russian', which seems him adopt the persona of a very rich Russian oligarch and dance around his opulent mansion with a lot of dancing women.
Some tabloids in Russia have described the video as borderline racist, and have suggested that Williams would never be able to perform in Russia again.
The state channel Vesti even aired a segment devoted to the video, metaphorically tearing chunks out of ol' Rob and dismissing him as a has-been whose popularity "in recent years was becoming a memory rather than a reality”.
Robbie Williams has not responded directly to the controversy, except to correct a journalist who had suggested that the song mocks Russian president Vladimir Putin:
I love you Dan but this song is definitely not about Mr Putin xhttps://t.co/ViIACar1Z4
— Robbie Williams (@robbiewilliams) September 30, 2016
You know what they say - there's no such thing as bad publicity, and at time of writing, the video had already clocked up 1.8 million views in less than a week.
