The Killers were booed by fans after bringing a Russian fan onto the stage during an Aug. 15 show and calling him “brother.”
The famous rock band was playing at the Black Sea Arena in the country of Georgia and offered a fan the opportunity to take the stage and play the drums for the song “For Reasons Unknown.” What happened next was jolting for fans, many of who walked out in protest.
Frontman Brandon Flowers identified the fan as being of Russian descent. “We don’t know the etiquette of this land but this guy’s a Russian,” he said in a fan-shared video posted to social media. “You OK with a Russian coming up here?”
#Russia|n drummer at The Killers concert spoke about the Russian-#Georgia|n “friendship”, which caused public protests pic.twitter.com/bVf7TMrFFw
— Mtavari TV (@MtavariChannel) August 15, 2023
The crowd immediately responded with loud, thunderous boos.
“You can’t recognize that someone’s your brother? He’s not your brother? We all separate on the border of our countries?” Flowers asked over the sound of the loud boos.
Flowers continued trying to persuade the crowd to hear his perspective.
“So I’m not your brother? Am I not your brother being from America? Am I your brother or no? I’m not your brother?” he demanded.
Part of the audience left concert of @thekillers at the Black Sea Arena in Georgia in protest after amid booing the group’s frontman who invited a Russian drummer to the stage and said everyone are “brothers and sisters” pic.twitter.com/mhtklWIOKf
— Formula NEWS | English (@FormulaGe) August 15, 2023
Flowers became increasingly agitated and walked away from the microphone before throwing his head back and saying, “One of the things we appreciate about being in this band is it brings people together. And tonight I want to celebrate that we’re here together.”
“And I don’t want it to turn ugly. And I see you as my brothers and my sisters,” he added.
The fans that remained in the crowd continued to fill the arena with boos, while others continued to jeer at the building from the outside as they exited.
— The Killers (@thekillers) August 15, 2023
The band issued an apology hours later, saying they didn’t intend to add unnecessary stress in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (RELATED: Warner Bros. CEO Relentlessly Booed Onstage Amid Ongoing Writers Strike)
“Good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone! We have a longstanding tradition of inviting people to play drums and it seemed from the stage that the initial response from the crowd indicated that they were okay with tonight’s audience participation member coming onstage with us,” thee band posted to social media. “We recognize that a comment, meant to suggest that all of The Killers’ audience and fans are ‘brothers and sisters,’ could be misconstrued. We did not mean to upset anyone and we apologize.”