Ukraine hits out at HBO for casting pro-Russia actor in new season of White Lotus | The White Lotus

Ukraine’s foreign ministry has criticised the US TV network HBO for casting a Serbian actor it says backs Russia’s invasion in the next season of hit show the White Lotus.

Miloš Biković was given Russian citizenship in 2021 and was personally honoured by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for his contribution to Russian arts and culture. In 2019, he said he had been banned from entering Ukraine for national security reasons.

HBO announced earlier this month that Biković would star in the third season of the White Lotus, triggering an immediate backlash from Ukrainian social media users.

“Miloš Biković, Serbian actor who has been supporting Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion, is now set to star in HBO’s The White Lotus Season 3,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on social media on Wednesday. “@HBO, is it all right for you to work with a person who supports genocide & violates international law?” it added.

There was no immediate response from HBO.

Biković, 36, has starred in a number of Russian productions and spoken regularly about his admiration of Russian culture.

Kyiv has said he filmed shows in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Russia annexed in 2014, and that he has backed Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.

Putin awarded Biković the Pushkin medal, one of Russia’s top cultural prizes, for advancing Russian culture, at a ceremony in the Kremlin in 2018. He was also awarded Russian citizenship by presidential decree in 2021. “It is a great honour to say today: Russia is my homeland,” he wrote at the time on Instagram, adding that he was “an active member of Russian society”.

Filming of the third season of Emmy-winner the White Lotus will begin in February in Thailand, with the show set to air in 2025, Variety reported.