Former Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner was interviewed at a press conference in Russian-annexed Crimea, where he was performing. At the conference, the singer praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and said he has “no love anymore for the United States.” Read select quotes from the conference below as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net.
Turner said he that he might settle down in another country ruled by an authoritarian leader — Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. He said he was considering moving to Belarus “if Lukashenka lets me in.”
“I just might apply for citizenship, because I have no — truth be told — I have no love anymore for the United States, really,” Joe said. “I don’t like the administrations, I don’t like what’s going on, I don’t like the lies to the people… I don’t like anything. It’s not the country… my father’s country. When there was opportunity, when there was truth — some truth anyway — I think…”
He continued, “You might see this. This is a pin of Putin. [points to his pin] Why? Why? I don’t wear this to placate you. The word [placate] means to impress you. I don’t. I wear it, because I believe it.
I’ve listened to every leader in the world. The only one who’s telling the truth is Putin. So I think there’s a very good question for me personally, because, as I have said already, there’s a house being built in Belarus and perhaps an apartment in Moscow. I’m thinking about it. I have some very, very important friends there who I love very much, and I think I have found a new life and a new home. And that is ‘pravda’ [Russian word for ‘truth’]; that is the truth.”
Turner is married to Maya Kozyreva, a lawyer from Minsk, the capital of Belarus. “She is my greatest asset in life. She’s my angel,” he told Guitar World in 2012.
A video from the press conference appears below.
34 Responses
He looks like Tricia Takenawa from FAMILY GUY STREET OF DREAMS was 30 years ago pal. You’re not relevant.
It’s a shame Joe is such a naive idiot. He WANTS to be ruled by a dictator totalitarian leadership! LMAO!! Joe needs a serious history lesson. Wow, I’m stunned. Brainwashed by Russian a$$…….good God. It almost reads like a parody on The Onion it’s so ridiculous. Sayonara Joe! Tell all those Russian reporters who have been missing I said hi….oh wait, you CAN’T because Putin had them all murdered or thrown in the Goulag,
Wow, a hate-filled comments section. You almost never see that!
Please. Some of you are great at hitting low hanging fruit. No, the guy isn’t relevant now, but those Rainbow albums were stellar, and to take away from them is just revisionist history. I don’t agree with much (any?) of what he says, but still, he’s got a right to say it without a ridiculous character assassination.
Off topic, but I can just hear comedian Craig Ferguson saying that “low hanging fruit” used to be his porno name. LOL!!
AHHHHH! I said Lee Harvey Oswald and you said assassination. I cursed him out in Yiddish so that makes it alright. Look up Jani Lane’s real name. Anyhow, those three albums are in fact awesome especially BENT OUT OF SHAPE. The way that band evolved and WHITESNAKE as well was great. Blackmore and Coverdale always surrounded themselves with top talent regardless of the project and the fans always got something worthwhile. Back to JLT: Putin himself prefers Dio and Graham Bonnet era RAINBOW to the JLT stuff. Putin does prefer JLT to Doogie White because Putin switched to grunge in the 1990s and nobody gave a s$%t about RAINBOW at that time. Rock on Vladamir you billionaire communist.
Hey Joe, why not market Putin t-shirts the same way Rage against the Machine markets Che Guevara?
In the words of Ron Kovic….”love it, or leave it!”