An ex-contestant of the Russian version of the hit reality TV show Big Brother is suing a tabloid newspaper over claims that he once worked as a gay prostitute.
28-year-old Vasily Pechen has accused the Express Gazeta of publishing inaccurate articles that suggested he worked as a sex worker in gay clubs.
The Moscow Times reports that Pechen – who appeared on the show in 2005, the same year the offended stories surfaced – and his lawyer attended an initial hearing yesterday, at Savyolovsky District Court, where the victim asked the newspaper for 3 million rubles (around £56,000) in damages.
Pechen claims the allegations have ruined his subsequent reputation, hindered his chances at scoring jobs, and partly credited the shock of the articles to his mother’s premature death from cancer.
Pechen is asking for a further 1 million rubles from Gay.ru after the website picked up on the story and published further allegations. One of the website's reports quoted Pechen’s university classmate as saying: [he] became a regular at one of the Moscow gay clubs and enjoyed the attention of wealthy Moscow gays.” Gay.ru has apparently threatened an ‘ever more dirty campaign’ should the court case continue.
The stories have since been removed from both Gay.ru as well as the Express Gazeta website.
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