Little Big is a Russian punk-rave band formed in 2013 in Saint Petersburg. The frontman and lead vocalist of the group is Ilya Prusikin (Ilich). The band achieved worldwide fame through extravagant viral music videos and massive hits (such as «Skibidi», «Uno»). In 2020, Little Big was selected to represent Russia at the international Eurovision Song Contest, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Little Big's stance on the war in Ukraine
Following the launch of Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine (the so-called "special military operation"), the members of Little Big refrained from public comment for a long time. However, on June 24, 2022, the musicians released an anti-war music video titled Generation Cancellation, which carried the following statement in its description:
War is not over. Stop war in Ukraine. Stop wars worldwide. No one deserves war. The war is not over. Stop the war in Ukraine. Stop wars worldwide. No one deserves war.
The music video faced severe criticism from various audiences because it refrained from explicitly articulating the band's position regarding "who is to blame for the war: Russia or the United States."
Immediately following the release of the music video, it became known that band leaders Ilya Prusikin and Sonya Tayurskaya left Russia and relocated to Los Angeles (United States). In July 2022, the band officially announced the cancellation of their extensive Russian tour.
Interview with anti-war statements
In December 2022, a major interview with the leaders of Little Big was published on Irina Shikhman's YouTube channel "A pogovorit?".
Ilya Prusikin: quotes
This is not emigration. Many call it forced emigration, but damn it, that’s the exact same euphemism as calling a war a 'special military operation.' No, let's call things by their real names: 'We are in fact refugees on political grounds.' We do not agree, and that is why we are fleeing. People flee Ukraine from war — and we are fleeing from that exact same war against our will, meaning we refuse to be accomplices to this f***ing catastrophe.
So I’m the traitor, not those who plundered and wrecked the country, not those who are now killing Ukrainians and Russians? I’m the traitor, while they are the heroes? They are the ones who f***ed up everything completely: zero production, nothing left, absolutely nothing. I am supposedly the traitor, while they claim, 'Now we will rebuild the country.' Rebuild after whom? It has to be rebuilt after you! You ruined everything, you destroyed everything, and now you say, 'We will rebuild the country' — that sounds completely ridiculous. It's like if I went out, picked a fight, beat someone up, and then said, 'Come on, let me patch you up, let’s go.'
Regarding February 24, 2022: «At 8:00 AM I woke up to Sonya standing over me: 'Sonya, what's wrong?' She said, 'The war has started.' I immediately called Alina, and by 9:30 AM we were already gathered at the office and decided right then that we had to leave, because supporting all this slaughter of human beings purely for someone's ambitions was unthinkable...
Sonya Tayurskaya: quotes
How can anyone be IN FAVOR when people are dying, when my friends from Ukraine call me — women who are pregnant or holding infants — sitting in bomb shelters, not understanding what happened? When people are screaming into the phone, crying out: 'What is happening? What is happening? We are being bombed! Where do we run?' And you don't know what to do! How can you help them? You can't just brush it off and say: 'This has nothing to do with me, it's happening somewhere far away, I’m not involved in this...' I don't know, I just could never do that.
We are artists, and the truth is they forced an ultimatum on us: first, someone called and said, 'Delete the No to War post.' We don't even know who called; they simply phoned and demanded, 'Please remove the black square with the words No to War.' We answered, 'No, we will not delete it.' They responded, 'Then you are going to face serious problems.' Soon afterward, blacklists were distributed to concert venues stating that these artists were strictly forbidden from performing there. That made it clear to us that we were already being canceled...
I will never be in favor of war, never in favor of people dying... how could anyone support that at all? For me, there is no such phrase as 'it's not all so clear-cut,' or 'you don't understand, they would have attacked first,' or 'if it wasn't for us...' Go straight to hell! Human beings are dying! Do you honestly believe murder can ever be justified?
Little Big's anti-war social media posts
"Foreign agent" status
In January 2023, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation designated Ilya Prusikin as a "foreign agent". The official pretext cited for his inclusion on the registry was that the artist "conducted concert activities in unfriendly foreign states with appeals to cease the special military operation" and openly opposed the actions of the Russian authorities.
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