TV series, ”The White Lotus”was involved in a controversy with one of the actors who was going to participate in the third season of the successful anthology series HBO.
It’s about the Serbian Milos Bikovicwho was removed from the cast of the series due to the actor’s ties to Russiawhich provoked strong questions in Ukraineaccording to a spokesperson for the American network HBO.
”We have decided to part ways with Milos Bikovic and his role will be restructured,” the spokesperson confirmed to AFP. Bikovic, who was cast in the third season of the award-winning black comedy just a few weeks ago, protested against the network’s decision, considering it a “triumph of absurdity and the defeat of art.”
Ukraine spoke out against the actor
When HBO originally announced the cast of “The White Lotus” including Bikovic, on January 12, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine made its discontent explicitly clear. In a post on the X social network, the Ukrainian government said that the actor had “been supporting Russia since the beginning of the large-scale invasion” of the neighboring country, launched by Moscow on February 24, 2022.
In that sense, he added: “HBO, is it okay for you to work with a person who supports genocide and violates international law?”
Bikovic said Saturday on his X account that does not support any warciting his experience of growing up during the conflicts in the defunct republic of Yugoslavia.
“I grew up in a war-torn country. At the age of 11, I endured days and nights in shelters while my homeland and hometown were bombed. “I could never wish such devastation on anyone.”, he said in his defense. Bikovic stressed that he wishes that all active conflicts everywhere “cease and that the principles of love prevail.”
In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Bikovic the Pushkin Medal for his contributions to Russian culture and subsequently granted him Russian citizenship. “It is a great honor to say today: Russia is my homeland,” the actor wrote then.
Later, in 2019, He said he had been banned from entering Ukraine “for reasons of national security”.
The cast confirmed so far for the third season of The White Lotus
HBO confirmed five new cast members for the third season of the Emmy-winning HBO Original series, ”The White Lotus,” created by Mike White which will begin production in February in Thailand. They are: Walton Goggins, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Aimee Lou Wood.
The previously announced cast includes Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Christian Friedel, Dom Hetrakul, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Lek Patravadi, Shalini Peires, Parker Posey, Natasha Rothwell and Tayme Thapthimthong.
Source: Ambito
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