UK prime minister David Cameron has rejected Stephen Fry's plea for Britain to boycott Russia's Winter Olympics. In a heartfelt blog post in The Huffington Post, the comedian called for "an absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014" given Russia's ongoing persecution of gay people. "Stage them elsewhere in Utah, Lillehammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world," wrote Fry.
Appealing to Cameron as ""a man for whom I have the utmost respect," Fry implored: "I am begging you to resist the pressures of pragmatism, of money, of the oily cowardice of diplomats and to stand up resolutely and proudly for humanity the world over, as your movement is pledged to do. Wave your Olympic flag with pride as we gay men and women wave our Rainbow flag with pride. Be brave enough to live up to the oaths and protocols of your movement, which I remind you of verbatim below."
Cameron rejected the request, however, echoing sentiments similar to those of President Obama, who this week said, "One of the things I'm really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we're seeing [in Russia]." On Twitter, Cameron wrote:
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