Porn star Sasha Grey has been forced to deny that she is helping Vladimir Putin recruit soldiers for his invasion of Ukraine.
This week an image of a Russian recruitment advert did the rounds on social media and it appeared to show Grey dressed in military garb.
Sharing the image, one Twitter user wrote: "Something's not right with this military recruitment billboard…"
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The billboard quickly started to gain traction and was shared by Russian opposition activist Maxim Mironov who joked: "They say that Sasha Grey is going to file a defamation lawsuit against the Russian Defense Ministry."
It was also shared in Ukrainian and Russian circles on Telegram.
Inevitably, the billboard eventually caught the attention of Grey herself who felt the need to clear things up.
She told her 1.5million followers on Twitter: "My phone is blowing up. Another flaccid attempt at creating hate and division. Can anyone verify if this is a real advertisement in Russia, and where?
"Meme or not, I don’t condone this. Be wary of what you share. PS the b00bs are too big, and MAKE LOVE NOT WAR."
She added in a subsequent tweet: "Why I always say be wary of what u share:where is this building? Why is the photo zoomed in? Why don’t we see surrounding buildings, and why aren’t we given an address?
"Apart from the bad photoshop, there’s a chance that the entire thing is fake & doesn’t exist. I need receipts."
Grey was correct to assume it had been completely photoshopped.
Newsweek traced the original photo to an April 2020 article in provincial Russian publication Vecherny Magadan.
It transpired that Grey's face had simply been superimposed onto that of Ksenia Shinyakova, a local police sergeant.
It would also seem the photoshopped image didn't actually appear on the billboard as original images of the billboard have surfaced, showing a different picture entirely.
Going into more detail about the billboard in a YouTube video, Grey explained she had "quite a large following" in both Ukraine and Russia, and had become an "old Russian meme".
"For years now, in both Ukrainian and Russian culture, there have been memes galore about me," she said.
"I'm against war as much as any person with a heart and feelings. I'm against propaganda."
Grey also touched upon a similar incident in 2015 when Russian-backed separatists used her face on an anti-Kyiv propaganda poster.
It showed her to be a Russian nurse killed by Ukrainian forces.
She tweeted at the time: "I <3 my Russian fans, but this propaganda takes it too far. News that I was a nurse killed in the Russian/Ukraine conflict. #f**kpropaganda.
"I have love and respect for all of my Russian and Ukrainian fans. I wish there was more I could do. #peace."
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