Lady Gaga's Russian promoter fined for 'propaganda of homosexuality'

It’s not all self-effacing SNL appearances and surprise H&M appearances in GagaWorld. Russian news agency RIA Novosti reports that promoters who brought the pantsless diva to St. Petersburg in 2013 have been fined for violating the nation’s controversial anti-gay law, which bans the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors.”

Specifically, a court ruled, the concert organizers engaged in “propaganda of alcohol consumption and homosexuality,” which violates a Russian law about “protecti[ng] children from information that could harm their health or development.” The offenders were ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 rubles, or $615, on Nov. 14 when the court upheld a ruling passed in May.

The verdict comes nearly a year after Gaga’s performance — and about 15 months after St. Petersburg regional deputy Vitaly Milonov told the organizers to deny minors entry to the Gaga show. At least Gaga can take comfort in knowing she’s in good company; her sometime-rival Madonna came under similar fire during a St. Petersburg show in August 2012, when she voiced her support for the gay community. (A Russian court ultimately ruled in favor of the singer.)

Though the fine itself is nominal, The Hollywood Reporter notes that this ruling allows complaintant Nadezha Petrova — who alleged that her 13-year-old daughter “was exposed to an imitation of sexual intercourse between women and advocacy of alcohol consumption” during the Gaga show — to sue Gaga’s organizers in criminal court, possibly demanding millions of rubles in damages.

The organizers declared on Russian TV that they plan to appeal the decision.