Stephen Fry has called on the UK government to boycott the Winter Olympics in Russia due to the country's anti-gay stance.
The actor and writer has written an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge and Lord Coe stating that the Games in Sochi should be moved after Valdimir Putin recently passed an anti-gay law.
The Russian president has sparked controversy for making it illegal to give children homosexual 'propaganda', as well as passing bills banning foreign same-sex couples and unmarried individuals in countries that allow same-sex marriage from adopting Russian children.
In the letter, Fry wrote: "It is simply not enough to say that gay Olympians may or may not be safe in their village. The IOC absolutely must take a firm stance on behalf of the shared humanity it is supposed to represent against the barbaric, fascist law that Putin has pushed through the Duma.
"The idea that sport and politics don't connect is worse than disingenuous, worse than stupid. It is wickedly, wilfully wrong. An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential.
"Stage them elsewhere, in Utah, Lillyhammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world."
Fry also compared the Sochi Games to Germany's decision to stage the Summer Olympics under Adolf Hitler's regime in 1936.
Danielle Joynson
