Brandon Flowers: The Killers issue apology after singer’s remarks prompts crowd walkout - what did he say?

The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers upset a crowd in Georgia last night after asking them to see a Russian audience member as their “brother” - the band have since issued an apology. The rock band were performing at the Black Sea Arena in Batumi, Georgia when the Mr Brightside singer made the comments.

As the concert drew to a close, the band invited a member of the audience on the stage to perform with them for their 2006 song “For Reasons Unknown. However, the crowd had a mixed reaction to the decision when Flowers informed them he was ‘Russian’.

Flowers told the audience: “We don’t know the etiquette of this land but this guy’s a Russian. You ok with a Russian coming up here?” Some members of the crowd can be heard in clips, uploaded to social media, booing the singer and shouting “No.”

 Georgia declared its independence in 1991 but prior to this, the country was a multi-national state part of the Soviet Union. In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union started to fracture and Georgian nationalist took back control of the region.

Throughout the 00s, Russia-Georgia relations worsened as Georgia sought a closer relationship with US & Nato. The two state’s engaged in a war in 2008, which caused mass geographical and policitcal destruction.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year has led to many Russian people emigrating to Georgia - a country which is mostly pro-Ukrainian.

After The Killers had performed the song, Flowers tried to settle the crowd. He said: “You can’t recognise if someone’s your brother? He’s not your brother? We all separate on the borders of our countries? I’m not your brother? Am I not your brother, being from America?”

According to the Independent, local news outlets reported on walkouts amongst the crowd, with one fan heard shouting: “This is Georgia!” Subsequently, the band took to Twitter to address the situation, saying ‘it was never our intention to offend anyone!”

The statement reads: “Good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone!”

“We have a long-standing tradition of inviting people to play drums and it seemed from the stage that the initial response from the crowd indicated that they were okay with tonight’s audience participation member coming on-stage with us.”

“We recognise that a comment, meant to suggest that all of The Killers’ audience and fans are ‘brothers and sisters’, could be misconstrued.

“We did not mean to upset anyone and apologise. We stand with you and hope to return soon.”