Russia’s Justice Ministry censors Oxxxymiron’s 2009 hip-hop track portraying high school shooting as ‘extremist content’
Source: Meduza
Russia’s Justice Ministry has added “The Last Bell,” a hip-hop track released in 2009 by the Russian artist Oxxxymiron, to its list of extremist content. The song portrays a high school shooting reminiscent of the 1999 Columbine high school massacre in Colorado.
Last October, a Moscow court ruled to classify the track as “extremist content” containing justifications and propaganda of terrorism. Earlier, the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office suggested that open access to the material posed a threat to Russia’s constitutional foundations.
In 2018, the song drew criticism in Russia as possibly having inspired a shooting at the Kerch Polytechnic College, where 20 people had been killed by an 18-year-old gunman who then committed suicide.
