Be gay, do drugs, hail satan!

He is an Israeli citizen and music director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. I’d say he can be seen as representing Israel (Israel, not necessarily the current regime) on a cultural level. Russian athletes can be barred from international events - why is it too much to ask to distance himself from the atrocities in Palestine?

I get the sentiment that the Russian people are responsible for their government. But repression in Russia goes far beyond “a couple of arrests and beatdowns” - they are openly killing people, torturing them, putting them in labor camps and throwing them behind bars for years or decades for very minor stuff.