Paet Criticizes Seagal Concert
Movie star and musician Steven Seagal is not respecting countries based on the rule of law, said Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, after Seagal, who has supported the annexation of Crimea, was unveiled as a performer at a blues festival in Haapsalu.
Seagal was recently announced as a headline act at the Augustibluus festival in Haapsalu next month, drawing criticism from singer Tõnis Mägi, who called for a boycott.
“Organizers of an important and commanding festival should be in touch with the wider feelings in society,” Paet told Delfi on Tuesday, “Steven Seagal has become active in politics in the past few months in a manner not befitting a world which honors states based on the rule of law. As we can not accept the occupation of a neighboring state, we can not accept the mindless approval of it.”
Seagal is a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his policies, having labeled the annexation of Crimea as “very reasonable.”
Indrek Ditmann, the head organizer of the blues festival, told ERR Tuesday that Seagal is there to play music and politics has nothing to do with it.