Actress AnnaLynne McCord reads bizarre poem to Putin: 'I'm so sorry that I was not your mother'

Actress AnnaLynne McCord may have just created the Ukraine crisis' version of Gal Gadot's "Imagine" video.
McCord, known for her roles on shows like Nip/Tuck and 90210, shared a strange video on Thursday addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin after his country invaded Ukraine, in which she suggests she might have been able to change the Russian leader had she raised him.
"Dear President Vladimir Putin: I'm so sorry that I was not your mother," she says. "If I was your mother, you would have been so loved."
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For the rest of the more than two minute poem, McCord questions whether Putin's actions were shaped by "soul-stealing pain" he must have experienced as a boy. But, she says, "If I was your mother ... I'd have died to protect you from the unjust, the violence, the terror, the uncertainty," and then "perhaps you would hold dear human life, and on this night, instead of Mother Russia, you would call me, and I would set your mind quite free with the love that only a mother can give."
The video racked up over four million views on Twitter within a few hours as it was widely derided and compared to Gadot's infamous video of celebrities singing "Imagine" when the COVID-19 pandemic began — a comparison so widespread that Gadot started trending. "Forget Ukraine,"Tablet Magazine's Noam Blum tweeted. "Send ground troops to Hollywood."
McCord wasn't the day's first star to make followers cringe amid the crisis. Earlier, John Cena sparked criticism after musing that he wishes his D.C. character Peacemaker was real so he might help, tweeting, "If I could somehow summon the powers of a real life #Peacemaker I think this would be a great time to do so." Given Cena used the hashtag for the Peacemaker HBO Max series, one follower shot back, "Bad time to promote a f---ing TV show. Please delete this. People are dying."
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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