Irish singer Hozier has been left devastated by homophobic comments the ballet dancer in his videos has made.
The singer invited Ukranian-born Sergei Polunin to appear in his latest video, Movement, after the dancer impressed the star with a performance in his breakthrough promo for Take Me to Church.
But now Hozier, real name Andrew Hozier-Byrne, is beginning to regret his links to Polunin after he went public with his feelings about gays and lesbians.
The ballet star had already shocked fans by revealing a tattoo of controversial Russian leader Vladimir Putin on his chest, and in January (19) he made homophobic and sexist comments in a post on Instagram.
In a new interview with the Independent newspaper, Hozier confessed the dancer's actions and remarks were "troubling", adding, "I don’t have a personal relationship with the man, but a lot of what he's been saying is pretty out there. I remember standing with him on the shoot for a day and he didn’t have the tattoo then, so it all seemed to come out of left-field."
Ironically, the David LeChappelle video for Take Me to Church featured scenes of a young, gay Russian being attacked because of his sexuality.
"When you bring somebody into your art, there’s a sense of trust and belief that they understand where you’re coming from," the singer added. "So to see all of that was really deflating. For somebody with such artistic potential... for him to be hijacked by this strange cultural war, it’s really saddening.
"I offered a nod to his work with my work, as something that I felt was coming full circle. When you do that, you’re bringing somebody in, in a very personal way. So it’s very f**king depressing."
