The Paris Opera Ballet has dropped Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin from their production of Swan Lake in relation to the dancer’s homophobic and misogynistic posts on social media. 

The company’s director Aurélie Dupont made the decision to drop Polunin from the ballet – in which he was due to play leading role Prince Siegfried as a “repressed gay man” – earlier this week. Yesterday, the company shared the news via Twitter, explaining that Polunin’s opinions are not in line with those of the company. The tweet read:

“In view of the public statements made by Sergei Polunin, Aurélie Dupont, director of dance, took the decision, not to invite the artist anymore. This is not in line with its values and those of the Institution.”

Compte tenu des propos publics tenus par Sergei Polunin, Aurélie Dupont, Directrice de la danse, a pris la décision de ne plus inviter l’artiste.
Ces propos n’étant pas en adéquation avec ses valeurs et celles de l’Institution.

— Opéra de Paris (@operadeparis) January 14, 2019

In December, Polunin took to Instagram to share a bizarre homophobic and misogynistic rant in which he calls for “men to be men” and suggests that women in ballet are performing more masculine roles because male ballet dancers will not have sex with them:

“Man up to all men who is doing ballet there is already ballerina on stage don’t need to be two. Man should be a man and woman should be a woman. Masculine and Feminine energies create a balance. There’s a reason you got balls.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Br-9pH_gsbN/

The rant continued:

“Man what’s wrong with you? Females now trying take on the man role because you don’t fuck them and because you are an embarrassment.”

The bizarre rant ended on a violent note:

“Stop being weak, be a man, be a warrior, what’s wrong with you???? No respect for you, life will beat you down, put you on your knees and wash you out. Need a good slap to wake you up. Unbelievable!”

Polunin has also attracted criticism for his support of Russian president Vladimir Putin. The dancer has praised Putin in the past, in addition to having tattoo of the Russian leader on his chest.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsTPh9IgmOF/

Widely regarded as one of the best ballet dancers of his generation, Polunin gained recognition outside the ballet world when a video directed by David LaChapelle to Hozier’s song “Take Me To Church” went viral.

He later appeared in a documentary film – Dancer – in which he was labelled as “the bad boy of the ballet world” for his criticism of authority figures in the industry, as well as his use of cocaine. 

Despite the backlash Polunin has received, the dancer has shown no sign of regret for the comments made, and continues to share Instagram posts celebrating Putin and the gender binary.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BspcKpwgsJK/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BslhjgXgfyE/

The homophobic and misogynistic post that attracted the attention of the company’s director still remains on Polunin’s page.