Russian Communist Group Seeks Ban on HBO's 'Chernobyl': 'Ideological Manipulation'

The Communists of Russia, a Russian Marxist-Leninist political party, is calling on Russia’s TV regulator, Roskomnadzor, to ban HBO’s “Chernobyl” miniseries in the country, saying it is “an ideological tool designed to defame and demonize the image of the Soviet government and Soviet people.”

The political party, which is different from the larger Communist Party of the Russian Federation, is also calling for libel cases to be brought against the writer, director and producers of the Jared Harris-led show under Article 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

“In the Chernobyl series, genuine tragedy became the object of ideological manipulation on the part of HBO,” Communists of Russia party member Sergey Malinkovich said in a statement Thursday. “The TV series about the dramatic events of April 1986 is an ideological tool designed to defame and demonize the image of the Soviet government and Soviet people. Although the chronology of the series’s events and key moments most of them correspond to reality, motivation, the actions of the heroes themselves, the order of relationships in institutions and collectives, and finally, the moral climate in Soviet society itself is the first example of an absolute lie.”

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Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, Paul Ritter, Jessie Buckley, Adrian Rawlins and Con O’Neill star on “Chernobyl,” which dramatizes the story of the titular 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The miniseries aired its finale in the U.S. on June 3.

The show has been widely praised by critics and is the highest-rated TV series of all time on IMDB.

Roskomnadzor and HBO did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

10 Notable Emmy Hosting Teams: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Photos)

Because they co-host the “Weekend Update” segment on “Saturday Night Live,” it makes perfect sense for Colin Jost and Michael Che to host the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards together on Sept. 17. But over the last 20 years, this will be only the third time the Emmys have used more than one host, even though two or more hosts were the norm in the show’s first half-century. Here are 10 other notable hosting teams, some that make perfect sense and some that don’t.
1952: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

Lucy and Desi were clearly the first couple of television in its early days, so it was natural that they’d be co-hosts only the fourth time the Emmys were handed out – a show on which their show “I Love Lucy” also won the top comedy award.
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1962: David Brinkley, Johnny Carson and Bob Newhart

Why three hosts? Because the 1962 show took place simultaneously in three locations: Los Angeles (Newhart), New York (Carson) and Washington, D.C. (Brinkley).
Getty/NBC Television
1968: Frank Sinatra and Dick Van Dyke

Sinatra handled the L.A. show, Van Dyke the N.Y. one, and they had one thing in common in 1968: They both barely survived a snafu-ridden Emmys show.
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1976: Mary Tyler Moore and John Denver

Mary Tyler Moore had been a TV icon for more than a decade, and the night she hosted in 1976 her show would win five top awards. So why saddle her with a country-pop singer who was criticized for saying “far out!” too much? Only the TV Academy knows.
Public Domain
1980: Steve Allen and Dick Clark

Allen famously hated rock ‘n’ roll; Clark popularized it on “American Bandstand.” But they were both TV icons, so that was good enough.
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1983: Eddie Murphy and Joan Rivers

By the standards of the time, “Saturday Night Live” cast member Murphy and “Tonight Show” regular Rivers were pretty rude and transgressive comics – and they didn’t disappoint on Emmy night, delivering the bawdiest (and, some thought, most offensive) Emmys ever.
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1986: Shelley Long and David Letterman

Letterman was only in his third year as a late-night host, while Long was already on her fourth nomination for her role in “Cheers.” But the show was on NBC and they were two of the network’s biggest stars, so they became co-hosts.
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1990: Candice Bergen, Jay Leno and Jane Pauley

Bergen played a Pauley-like newswoman on “Murphy Brown,” and Leno was the change of pace in the middle of a three-hour show in which each of the hosts handled duties for an hour.
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1995: Jason Alexander and Cybill Shepherd

Alexander was in the sixth year of the comedy series “Seinfeld,” Shepherd in the first year of her series “Cybill.” One of those shows would go on to be iconic, and the other wouldn't.
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2008: Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst and Ryan Seacrest

“It sounded like a good idea,” Probst told TheWrap of the ill-fated plan to put the five nominees in the reality-host category in charge of the Emmys. “[We] were supposed to be the best hosts, and yet we did the worst hosting in the history of the Emmys.”
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From Lucy and Desi to those reality-show hosts, the Emmys have both soared and stumbled when enlisting more than one host

Because they co-host the “Weekend Update” segment on “Saturday Night Live,” it makes perfect sense for Colin Jost and Michael Che to host the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards together on Sept. 17. But over the last 20 years, this will be only the third time the Emmys have used more than one host, even though two or more hosts were the norm in the show’s first half-century. Here are 10 other notable hosting teams, some that make perfect sense and some that don’t.

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10 Notable Emmy Hosting Teams: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Photos)

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