What's New?
Podcast host Lex Fridman is facing backlash for asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to do a three-hour interview in Russian.
Newsweek has contacted Zelensky's office and representatives for Fridman, via email, for comment.
Why It Matters
Most Ukrainians are fluent in Russian and Ukrainian because Russian culture was widespread during the days of the Soviet Union.
However, researchers from LMU Munich, the University of Bath, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) showed a dramatic shift from the use of the Russian language to Ukrainian after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The findings, from 4 million tweets by 63,000 social-media users in Ukraine between January 2020 and October 2022, were published in the journal Communications Psychology.
What To Know
Last month, Zelensky agreed to do a three-hour appearance on the Lex Fridman Podcast, when the host posted his desire to speak with the Ukrainian leader on X, formerly Twitter, saying he would travel to Kyiv for it.
However, on Tuesday, Fridman posted a request to do the interview in Russian because both men are fluent in it.
He wrote: "Let me make the case for it and provide some context below. For people who may not know, the Ukrainian language has increasingly become a symbol of the Ukrainian people's fight for freedom and independence.
"Unfortunately, it is a language I do not speak yet, but I am learning it. I do know how to speak fluent Russian, as does President Zelensky, and as does a large fraction of Ukrainian people. Speaking in a language we're both fluent in will result in the most deep, dynamic, and powerful conversation. We will, of course, translate and dub it into Ukrainian and English."
This has attracted backlash from multiple people, with several commenting on the post, asking why the interview would not be done in English.
What Are People Saying
Tymofii Brik, rector of the Kyiv School of Economics, said on X: "Yes, many Ukrainians understand Russian. However, for many, this language is a source of trauma. It was used by aggressors in occupied territories and during the torture of soldiers.
"Many Ukrainians can no longer listen to Russian music or read Russian literature. This isn't about nationalism; it's about rethinking identity in the face of trauma.
"Demanding Ukraine's president to abandon Ukrainian for the sake of 'convenience' in communication is tone-deaf. Ukraine is an underdog fighting an aggressor who denies our language and culture even exist. At a time when the entire nation is mobilized to protect our identity, such demands are awkward at best."
Referring to Fridman's post, Ukrainian Karina Vinnikova said: "I find this whole tweet manipulative (and kinda imperialistic)."
Dear President @ZelenskyyUa, I look forward to our 3 hour conversation.
I hope we can conduct it in the Russian language, a language we are both fluent in. Let me make the case for it and provide some context below.
For people who may not know, the Ukrainian language has…
Where Is Lex Fridman's Interview With Illia Ponomarenko?
Several of Fridman's current online critics have asked why his previous interview with pro-Ukraine journalist Illia Ponomarenko was supposedly shelved.
In July 2022, Fridman posted that it was "an honor and pleasure to meet and have a great conversation" with Ponomarenko, alongside a photo of the two of them. Ponomarenko has since claimed that Fridman would not publish the interview.
As recently as Tuesday, Ponomarenko responded to someone asking what happened to the interview online, saying: "Ask Lex, he recorded and never released it."
Anastasia Klimash, who works with the media company WithUkraine, was one of several people who cited this to Fridman.
Klimash then posted a screengrab purporting to show that Fridman had blocked her and said: "You can see from the comments, the guy blocks everyone he sees asking the question about the unreleased interview with Ponomarenko. And a bunch of people have already been blocked by him for other reasons."
Newsweek has contacted representatives for Fridman, via email, for a response to this.
What's Next
Despite all this, Fridman's most-recent post on X, shared on Thursday, was about his proposed interview with Zelensky.
"I'm in Kyiv to interview President Zelensky, trying to do my small part in pushing for peace," Fridman said.
He added: "I spoke with hundreds of people off-mic (not recorded, just human to human), including soldiers, civilians, politicians, artists, religious leaders, journalists, economists, historians, and technologists. I recorded only a tiny number of these, with no intent to publish them as stand-alone episodes, but instead to maybe consider including them in a documentary-style video as part of a Zelensky interview … But the project quickly fell apart and started to not make sense, not in the way I was approaching it."
I'm in Kyiv to interview President Zelenskyy, trying to do my small part in pushing for peace.
This photo is of me visiting Babi Yar yesterday, a place where many in my family were slaughtered by Nazi forces in 1941. They were ordered to gather with valuables with the promise… pic.twitter.com/YUWk9OjrzH
He continued: "The interviews I DID record were simply just not good conversations, and it's my fault, and I take full responsibility for that. They were short (by my standard: ~1 hour) where I asked disparate generic questions, which resulted in shallow generic conversation. I quickly realized that I would need to change my approach.
"Almost all the people I spoke with on and off-mic have reached out with support and total understanding," Fridman added. "Many have become good friends. Still, I'm deeply sorry for the many ways I've failed in this effort, but I promise I'm working really hard to get better."
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