Steve Jobs memorial torn down in Russia over gay Apple CEO

Following Apple CEO Tim Cook’s coming out in Businessweek, where he said he is “proud to be gay,” a memorial of Apple founder Steve Jobs has been dismantled in St Petersburg.

The six-foot-tall memorial was erected in 2013 by a company called ZEFS and featured moments from Jobs’s life and quotes from his speeches. ZEFS chairman Maxim Dolgopolov said the memorial wasn’t dismantled solely because of Cook’s coming out, but as a gesture against “aggressive” NSA spying.

Removing the Steve Jobs memorial is only the latest in Russia’s attack against Apple and its CEO. Last week, Vitaly Milonov, the politician responsible for St Petersburg’s anti-gay-propaganda law, said Cook wasn’t welcome in Russia because he could bring with him “the Ebola virus, AIDS [and] gonorrhea.”

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