MOSCOW -- The organizer of a so-called "Almost Naked" party in a Moscow nightclub last week and several attending celebrities have been issuing apologies amid a wave of official criticism and the sentencing of one participant to a jail term for "hooliganism."
The party -- organized by actress and blogger Anastasia Ivleyeva at the Mutabor nightclub on December 21 -- was attended by many celebrities, including popular singers such as Filipp Kirkorov, Anna Asti, Eurovision winner Dima Bilan, and Lolita Milyavskaya, journalist Ksenia Sobchak, and rapper Vacio (Nikolai Vasilyev), who showed up wearing only a sock on his genitalia.
Vacio was sentenced by a Moscow court on December 27 to 15 days in jail for "hooliganism" for his stunt and was also found guilty of "propagating LGBT relations" and fined 200,000 rubles ($2,180).
A Moscow court fined Ivleyeva 100,000 rubles ($1,090) on December 29 for "holding a gathering that led to disruption of public order."
Ivleyeva apologized for organizing the party in two videos posted online.
"They say Russia is able to forgive. If it is so, I would like very much to ask you, the people, for a second chance," Ivleyeva said in one video, apologizing to those who may have been offended by the event.
Milyavskaya, Bilan, Kirkorov, and Sobchak also issued videos offering apologies.
Online apologies, however, appeared insufficient to offset economic repercussions.
According to reports, Russia's largest mobile network operator MTS, the Tinkoff Bank, the VK social network, as well as the TNT and NTV television channels canceled their advertisement contracts with Ivleyeva and other celebrities who attended the party.
Also, concerts of several attending entertainers, as well as their participation in special television programs on New Year's Eve, have been canceled, the reports said.
The wave of apologies that participants rushed to issue prompted heated debates online, where some Russians compared them to events during the era of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, during which many resorted to repenting for deeds real or imaginary in order to try and protect their lives amid mass purges.