Speaking directly to Fry on Twitter, Cameron said he shares the same "deep concern" about discrimination against gay people but dismissed the idea of a boycott.

"Thank you for your note @stephenfry. I share your deep concern about the abuse of gay people in Russia...," Cameron said.

"@stephenfry However, I believe we can better challenge prejudice as we attend, rather than boycotting the Winter Olympics."

He signed off with his initials "DC".

British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman Sebastian Coe also slammed the call of a boycott as a "ludicrous proposition".

"I don't think [boycotts] achieve what they set out to do," he said.

"They only damage one group of people, and that is the athletes.

"It is an issue that needs to be addressed, but not an issue that is one of a boycott."


Fry, an openly-gay activist, published an open letter to Cameron, Coe and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on his website on Wednesday (August 7) calling for an "absolute ban" on next year's Winter Games.

Drawing comparisons to the decision to hold the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, Fry's letter said: "[Vladimir Putin] is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews.

"He cannot be allowed to get away with it."

Addressing Cameron, he added: "As the leader of a party I have for almost all of my life opposed and instinctively disliked, you showed a determined, passionate and clearly honest commitment to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights and helped pushed gay marriage through both houses of our Parliament in the teeth of vehement opposition from so many of your own side.

"For that I will always admire you, whatever other differences may lie between us.

"In the end I believe you know when a thing is wrong or right.

"Please act on that instinct now."

Fry later responded to Cameron's tweets.

"@David_Cameron PM, you may be right. Would that have been true in 1936? But is there nothing we can DO? Putin grow and grows in confidence," he wrote.

Signed by Putin in June, Russia's anti-gay bill imposes heavy fines on individuals accused of spreading "propaganda of homosexuality" and punishes those holding gay pride rallies.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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