A well-known Russian celebrity and glamour model has caused a stir online after suggesting that the death of a massive chunk of humanity would be no big deal, and that it would be good for the Earth as a whole.

Victoria Bonya, a former participant on the massively popular reality television show ‘Dom-2’, recorded the controversial statement on Instagram, and the clip was shared widely on Russian social media.

In her video, Bonya said that coronavirus is actually needed by the Earth and will be a positive thing for the planet. “Because [humanity] simply devoured the planet, we destroyed the planet. And, to be honest, for me, it’s much worse that the planet will die. And the fact that half of humanity will die out is, to be honest, not so scary.”

The model later clarified her comments in a written Instagram post.

“Mankind as a whole has become worse than a locust which eats everything in its path and does not leave a living thing! Over the past 50 years, we have killed the planet in a way that no generation has in thousands of years. Such a shake-up, in the form of the coronavirus, should be beneficial to us,” she wrote. However, Bonya noted that she does not wish anyone evil, death, or illness. The model also said that she hopes the crisis with COVID-19 will “teach us to be aware, appreciate life, appreciate nature, water (rivers, lakes, oceans, and seas), animals, clean air and everything that the planet gives us.”

Bonya said that the situation with coronavirus will give the planet some respite. “Material life has sucked us in, in such a way that we are destroying ourselves, but we don’t feel sorry for ourselves! But the planet is sorry for the pain in our heart,” she said.

While the model received some positive feedback, the response was not entirely in her favor.

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One subscriber asked, “Well, if your friends/relatives turn white, will you write the same thing?” Victoria retorted that she is ready to pay for “human greed,” and her mother agrees with her. “You just don’t understand our thinking because you think through fear and fear for your life,” she explained.

On Tuesday, Bonya posted that she had left for France, and was delighted with the response to her post. What's more, the Instagram environmentalist presumably flew there.

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