MOSCOW, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Russian officials said they seek "harsh" punishment for a U.S. rock band whose bassist desecrated the Russian flag at a concert in Odessa, Ukraine.
At a Wednesday concert, Bloodhound Gang bassist Jared Hasselhoff said, "Don't tell [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," before he shoved the flag into his pants, wiped his behind with it, and tossed it into the audience.
A video of the incident went viral on YouTube, RIA Novosti reported.
One Russian lawmaker, Ilya Lostunov, said in Moscow law enforcement agencies should come up with "a principally harsh response," and another, Ruslan Gattarov, said the band should not be allowed to enter Russia.
Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky canceled the band's Friday performance at the KUBANA festival in the Krasnodar region.
"The Bloodhound Gang rockers are packing their bags," Medinsky wrote in his Twitter blog. "These idiots will not perform in Kuban."
The band's exit was delayed because police interrogated Hasselhoff, police at the Black Sea resort of Anapa said.
A band member who asked to not be named for security reasons told CNN Russian nationalists Saturday attacked and beat up the band members inside the Anapa airport.
He said no one was seriously hurt, and the band and its entourage were being guarded by Russian police while they waited for the next flight out.
Russian authorities rejected the band's later apologies for the incident, RIA Novosti reported.
