Elton John is calling out Russian President Vladimir Putin’s disingenuous statements about gay rights by noting that Russian film distributors heavily censored Rocketman “by removing all references to my finding true happiness” with husband David Furnish.

In an open letter released by John’s publicist, the iconic rock star takes issue with statements made by Putin in an interview with the Financial Times published today. In the interview, Putin denies that Russia is homophobic but says the West’s embrace of homosexuality is excessive: “Traditional values are more stable and more important for millions of people than this liberal idea, which, in my opinion, is really ceasing to exist.”

Here is John’s response in total:

Dear President Putin,

I was deeply upset when I read your recent interview in the Financial Times. I strongly disagree with your view that pursuing policies that embrace multicultural and sexual diversity are obsolete in our societies. I find duplicity in your comment that you want LGBT people to “be happy” and that “we have no problem in that”. Yet Russian distributors chose to heavily censor my film “Rocketman” by removing all references to my finding true happiness through my 25 year relationship with David and the raising of my two beautiful sons. This feels like hypocrisy to me.

I am proud to live in a part of the world where our governments have evolved to recognise the universal human right to love whoever we want. And I’m truly grateful for the advancement in government policies that have legally supported and allowed my marriage to David. This has brought us both tremendous comfort and happiness.

Respectfully,

Elton John

#LOVEISLOVE #WORLDPRIDE @ejaf