Latvia Bans Russian Actor Who Says Gays Should Be 'Burned Alive'

The country of Latvia banned a Russian actor from entering their country after he said that gay people should be "burned alive."

Gay Star News reports controversial former priest turned actor Ivan Okhlobystin was headed to Riga to do a one-man show about religion on Nov. 7.

But Foreign Minister Edgards Rinkevics said Okhlobystin would not be allowed to enter the country because of this hate speech, specifically the offensive statements he made about the LGBT community.

Last December, Okhlobystin caused international outrage when he said he would burn all gay people alive in the oven as they were "a living danger to my children."

"I would put all the gays alive into an oven," Okhlobystin, formerly an Orthodox priest, was quoted as saying, as reported by Hollywood Reporter. "This is Sodom and Gomorrah! As a religious person, I cannot be indifferent about it because it is a real threat to my children!"

He also compared homosexuality with fascism and added obscenities to his comments.

Okhlobystin later confirmed the press report on his Twitter account. "It sounded much more simply, but the meaning was rendered correctly," he said. "Everyone has the right to express their opinions."

The LGBT community in Russia (and presumably, the rest of the 'civilized world') were appalled by his comments.

"Lately, [Russian] public figures have gone out of their way, competing with each other in their homophobia, " Nikolay Alexeyev, leader of Moscow's gay community, told the radio station RSN, adding that Okhlobystin's remarks could be viewed as "inciting hatred and enmity toward a social group." Alexeyev also suggested that the actor could be denied visas to "civilized countries" because of his remarks.

In January, he said that Russia's anti-gay propaganda laws didn't go far enough, and that sodomy should be introduced. His hate mirrors Nazi thinking and in 2011, he even said that he wanted to put an Iron Wall around Russia and start a campaign of 'cleansing' and 'rebuilding the Russian nation.'

And in the midst of the Ebola scare, Okhlobystin said that he believes people with Ebola will 'come back' as zombies, and that he was 'not joking' and had bought a crossbow, 'just in case.'

This isn't the first time Okhlobystin's comments have gotten him in hot water. In July, a 'creative evening' with the actor in the Ukrainian city Kharkiv was cancelled due to "anti-Ukrainian statements."