MOSCOW: US actor David Duchovny has stirred up a storm of debate in Russia by appearing in an ultra-patriotic beer ad in which he fantasises about being Russian.
The “X-Files” and “Californication” star appears in a glossy ad for a Russian beer brand that is inspired by his eastern European origins.
“There is another country, where I got my family name from, and sometimes I wonder, what if things turned out differently, what if I were Russian?” the actor says in the ad posted Friday on YouTube.
Duchovny has said in interviews that his father had Polish and Russian roots but recently wrote on Twitter that he is in fact Ukrainian.
In the ad set to Soviet rock hits, the actor is shown as a ballet choreographer, a cosmonaut, a rock star or an ice hockey player and experiencing Russian traditions such as the banya, or steam bath.
“Being Russian, I’d have many things to be proud of,” he concludes in the ad.
Deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees defence, posted a link to the ad on Twitter, saying: “If you forget about what it is advertising, as a whole it’s made with love.”
But US news site Globalpost.com slammed Duchovny for appearing in what it called a “poorly timed, nationalistic ad” released shortly after the Malaysian airliner was downed in Ukraine.
Rossiya-24 state television in turn criticised Duchovny for appearing in the ad after calling himself a Ukrainian.
AFP
