Kazakh stand-up comedian Galym Kaliakbarov has for the first time commented on the cancellation of his performances in Astana and Almaty, stating that he is not yet ready to take the stage, reports infohub.kz.
In his Instagram stories, the artist addressed the audience and explained the situation. "Hi. I guess you have questions for me. First, I want to thank all the audience of that concert. Especially those brave women who defended me. I'm sorry it happened. We will refund everyone (or already have), and we'll also give you tickets to the next stand-up concert," he wrote.
Kaliakbarov also thanked friends and followers for their support. "Thank you very much to my friends for their support. Thank you to all the people on social media who were worried and wrote words of support. I'm doing well! Thanks to you! Rakhmet!" the comedian added.
He emphasized that he canceled the concerts on his own decision. "After everything that happened, I canceled my concerts myself. I'm currently being treated for depression, and this episode affected me, and I'm not ready to go on stage yet. I apologize to the Almaty akimat, because after I canceled the concert in Almaty, I was told that negativity was directed at them. I canceled this concert myself. I have no complaints against the Almaty akimat. On the contrary, they always allowed us to hold concerts. Sorry that you got in trouble. The most annoying thing is that I never really joked about politics. Maybe now I will," Kaliakbarov wrote.
Recall that on August 19, the comedian's concert in Astana was unexpectedly interrupted. It was reported that an unknown person stated that the event was illegal. Later, the akimat of the Yesil district explained to a NUR.KZ correspondent that the concert had not been officially approved, as the organizers had not sent the mandatory notification to the akimat 10 days before the event. The next day, information appeared about the cancellation of the concert in Almaty, which was scheduled for August 21.