Shocking Video: Berlin Drag Queen Freak Sews Mouth Shut in Protest of Russia’s Intolerance for Queers

The Local
August 4, 2013

Barbie Breakout is best known for her DJing work in Berlin nightclubs, and does not say anything on the video but simply produces a threaded needle and proceeds to pierce her lips and pull the cotton tight, sealing up her mouth.

Blood flows from the wound, and although she manages to keep a straight face for most of the ordeal, by the end she is wincing with pain.

In the second part of the video an off-screen commentary criticizes the German government for not taking a stand against the raging homophobia in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin’s government recently passed a law banning any “propaganda promoting homosexuality” with an extremely broad yet undefined remit. In the mean time attacks on gay people have multiplied and attracted no official condemnation.

Although Breakout Barbie has no particular links to Russia, she told Die Welt newspaper she felt deeply affected by the widespread violence against gay people in the country.

“The pain I felt inside when I had to see in the media what is happening in Russia was greater than the physical pain of the needle. My partner held the camera while I did it. But he couldn’t look.

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