On April 1, a Moscow-owned Russian opposition newspaper, /www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/04/01/71983-ubiystvo-chesti"}}" data-beacon-parsed="true">Novaya Gazeta, cited federal law enforcement officials who said more than 100 gay men, ranging in ages from 16 to 50, had been detained “in connection with their nontraditional sexual orientation, or suspicion of such.”

The initial reports were deemed “absolute lies and disinformation” by a spokesman for Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, /www.nytimes.com/2017/04/01/world/europe/chechen-authorities-arresting-and-killing-gay-men-russian-paper-says.html?_r=0"}}" data-beacon-parsed="true">according to The New York Times. But on April 4, a second /www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/04/04/72027-raspravy-nad-chechenskimi-geyami-publikuem-svidetelstva"}}" data-beacon-parsed="true">Novaya Gazeta report cited a source who told the newspaper that the Muslim-majority region’s anti-LGBTQ efforts include Nazi-like /www.ibtimes.co.uk/chechnya-detains-100-gay-men-first-concentration-camps-since-holocaust-1616363"}}" data-beacon-parsed="true">concentration camps.

The Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and Human Rights First were among the many advocacy organizations to call for U.S. officials to condemn the reports. Celebrities, too, were quick to react to the news, which began picking up steam stateside on Tuesday.

Eichner, who has never shied away from getting political on social media, tweeted:

THIS IS NOT A JOKE, PEOPLE. THIS IS HAPPENING UNDER PUTIN'S WATCH IN 2017. https://t.co/ok6Z78JS31 via @IBTimesUK — billy eichner (@billyeichner) April 12, 2017

DeGeneres, Bomer and pop star Troye Sivan also chimed in, sharing links to the news with their own thoughts on Twitter.

Things happen these days & it’s hard to believe they’re real. And yet they are. If this is happening in Chechnya, the world needs to rise up https://t.co/dPnmWEvvuM — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) April 12, 2017

Please sign share and help! https://t.co/QH7GE90WPh — Matt Bomer (@MattBomer) April 13, 2017

Other notables offered similar takes.

More than 100 gay men 'sent to prison camps' in Chechnya https://t.co/XTJEJlZkri — Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) April 11, 2017

The @UN must probe LGBTQ attacks in Chechnya. Appalling! https://t.co/2Dhc4iQZAN — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 11, 2017

Unfortunately, details of the alleged detainments are sketchy at best. Among those to downplay the controversy was Chechen activist Kheda Saratova, who is on Kadyrov’s human rights council. In a Russian radio interview cited by The Guardian, Saratova said she hadn’t had “a single request” on the issue, but also also implied that there weren’t any gay people in the region at all.

“In our Chechen society, any person who respects our traditions and culture will hunt down this kind of person without any help from authorities,” Saratova said, “and do everything to make sure that this kind of person does not exist in our society.”

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