“I stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” artist says
Charli XCX issued a statement on Thursday disavowing any knowledge of a party organizer she worked with having alleged ties to Russia.
The news outlet United24 Media reported on Monday that model and DJ Anastasia Shevtsova, a.k.a. Petit, threw an afterparty for Charli XCX’s mockumentary, The Moment, in Berlin. Shevtsova, the outlet said, was the daughter of Zhanna Shevtsova, whose “Traditsiya” foundation allegedly works with Vladimir Putin’s Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives on projects in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. The outlet claimed that Petit had traveled to parts of Ukraine that Russia had occupied in the years since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“For clarity, neither me nor my team were aware of any of the alleged affiliations around the party in Berlin,” Charli XCX wrote in a statement posted to her Instagram story. “I would like to take this opportunity to say I stand against the atrocities committed by the Russian government in Ukraine, and I stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”
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Petit also released a statement distancing herself from any ties to Russian oppression. “My family members live in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “The current tragedy affects me personally and deeply. I would never wish harm, violence, or suffering on anyone.”
The Moment premiered in the U.S. at the end of January, two weeks ahead of the release of Wuthering Heights, a movie with a Charli XCX soundtrack. Rolling Stone reviewed the film at Sundance. “It’s hard to parody something that’s already so over-the-top, yet this feels like merely scratching the surface of the nonstop mayhem of a world tour centered around a hedonistic yet sensitive artist surrounded by industry sharks and suck-ups,” critic David Fear wrote.
