He often engages with commenters and
followers on the photo-sharing social media mobile application owned by
Facebook, but Kernes got testy in a recent exchange under a photo of a pasta
dish he posted on March 16.
“Listen, you evil (expletive)
commentators, if you have that to say then just get together and (expletive)
each other,” the mayor wrote to a user named filatovi4. According to the user’s Instagram profile,
filatovi4 is a freelance jewelry designer. It’s unclear where he is from. It is
also not clear what started the colorful exchange, as it appears some of the
previous messages from him have been deleted.
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Users were quick to side with Kernes in
the virtual dust-up, including user Nelly5556, whose real name is Nelly
Tsybulnik. Responding directly to Kernes’
comment, Tsybulnik wrote, “(Kernes) cool! You did them good!”
Answering to a user by the name of dmitrym12, whose comments were deleted, Tsybulnik wrote, “You are stupid! Have you seen any cartoons as a child? You should know that leprechauns are always successful, rich and have a lot of gold. And they crush rats like you. So let God give (Kernes) the strength and will to clean the beautiful city of Kharkiv of people like you.”
With no hint of sarcasm, Tsybulnik later added, “Here we are writing odes to a great man for his doings in Kharkiv, and not counting his money.” According to Internet sources, Nelly Tsybulnik is the daughter of Tetiana Tsybulnik, head of district administration in Kharkiv and deputy of Kharkiv City Council. A look at her Instagram feed shows numerous photographs of her and mayor with her mother.
Responding to questions sent to him by email
last week, Kernes said the Internet is a daily part of life, and that
applications like Instagram and Twitter “allow you to share with your friends
and Kharkovites thoughts and events,” including, apparently, even the more
sordid ones.
In one photo posted to Kernes’ account, the nude
buttock of a woman is tattooed with the smirking bust of the mayor. When asked
about the tattoo’s authenticity, the mayor said that if it were real, “I would
not be surprised.”
The mayor also gave his take on the potential
for scandal deriving from posts the public might see as inappropriate use of
social media.
“I write about what’s going on in my life and in
the city of Kharkiv. The photos and my thoughts (on social networks)… I am
always willing to confirm the reality of them in person.”
Kyiv Post staff writers Christopher J. Miller and Olga Rudenko can be
reached at miller@kyivpost.com and rudenko@kyivpost.com.
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