“HBO, is it all right for you to work with a person who supports genocide & violates international law?” was the ministry’s incredulous query.
Earlier in January, HBO announced Biković as among five new cast members of The White Lotus — a dark comedic drama about class inequality told through stories of wealthy guests of a White Lotus resort. Filming starts in February.
Biković rose to fame in Russia, has Russian citizenship and, in previous interviews with Russian media and YouTube bloggers, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s occupation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian movie director Nikita Mikhalkov claimed he turned Biković into a movie star.
“Russia is moving [on] its own path and the world sees it as a hostile action,” Biković said in one of his interviews with Russian media in 2020. “I think it is the first time Russia has not taken Europe as a source of wisdom. This so-called civilized [Western] world, that bombed my country [i.e. Serbia], has no democracy and no human values.”
HBO did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
