As an actor, Steven Seagal hasn’t won many awards. He has one Razzie, but it’s for directing On Deadly Ground. Surely he’s stoked to add at least one honorarium to the mantlepiece: As per The Associated Press, the martial artist-turned-actor-turned-notorious SNL guest host has been awarded an Order of Friendship. Sounds nice, right? Trouble is, it came from Vladimir Putin.
The award was bestowed upon the Hard to Kill actor on Monday, mere days after the one-year anniversary of the disastrous Russian invasion of Ukraine. Seagal has long been a Putin pal, dating all the way back to 2013. He was awarded Russian citizenship in 2016 and two years later he was given a “special envoy” position as a cultural ambassador for the U.S.
Seagal doubled down on his Putin love in the early months of the Russian invasion, but in late summer it was discovered he was doing more than just saying nice things about the nation’s leader. He was spotted at the site of a destroyed prison in war-torn Ukraine, where he spread all manner of heinous propaganda against the invaded nation.
And now he has a fancy honor to brag about. At least the guy who hasn’t had a movie released in four years is doing something.
(Via AP)