Elton John Condemns Russia's Anti-Gay Law During St. Petersburg Concert

Sir Elton John slammed Russia's highly controversial anti-gay law, the so-called "homosexual propaganda" measure, during a concert in St. Petersburg this week, the Huffington Post reports.

John, 62, was outraged that St. Petersburg removed an Apple memorial of a giant iPhone after Tim Cook official came out as gay.

"How dignified that St. Petersburg should erect a memorial to Steve Jobs, the remarkable founder of Apple," John said at the concert (the text appeared on the singer's Facebook page). "But last week it was labeled 'homosexual propaganda' and taken down!"

He added:

Can this be true? Steve's memory is re-written because his successor at Apple, Tim Cook, is gay?! Does that also make iPads gay propaganda?! Is Tchaikovsky's beautiful music "sexually perverting"?!

As a gay man, I've always felt so welcome here in Russia. Stories of Russian fans -- men and women who fell in love dancing to "Nikita" or their kids who sing along to "Circle of Life" -- mean the world to me.

He went on to say that if he was not "honest about who I am" then he couldn't write his music, adding, ""It's not gay propaganda. It's how I express life. If we start punishing people for that, the world will lose its humanity."

This isn't the first time the pop star slammed Russia's gay law. John came under fire last year when he confirmed that he would perform in Russia, despite the measure. He said:

"I've got to go. And I've got to think about what I'm going to say very carefully. There's two avenues of thought: do you stop everyone going, ban all the artists coming in from Russia? But then you're really leaving the men and women who are gay and suffering under the anti-gay laws in an isolated situation. As a gay man, I can't leave those people on their own without going over there and supporting them. I don't know what's going to happen, but I've got to go."

In January, John showed solidarity with Russia's LGBT community and said the law legitimized "vicious homophobia" against gay Russians. He called the measure "deeply dangerous" to LGBT people and "deeply divisive" to Russian society.

John also offered to introduce Russian Vladimir Putin to gay Russians in order to promote understanding.