Bestselling author Stephen King calls Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera a “great man” during prank call

The bestselling author, Stephen King, has come under fire for appearing to praise the antisemitic Second World War-era Ukrainian nationalist leader and Nazi collaborator, Stepan Bandera, who played a key role in creating the conditions that made the Holocaust possible.

This came during a phone call with someone whom Mr King believed was current Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy.

During what turned out to be a prank call organised by the Russian comedy duo, Vovan and Lexus, Mr King, who is a vocal supporter of Ukraine, appeared to call Bandera a “great man”.

Mr King compared the “flaws” of American leaders George Washington and Thomas Jefferson with Bandera’s, saying that “On the whole, I think Bandera is a great man, and you’re a great man, and Viva Ukraine.”

The duo also encouraged Mr King to offer “Zelenskyy” a role in a new film of one of Mr King’s novels, and to comment on Ukraine’s Azov Batallion, which is known to have members with neo-Nazi sympathies.

As head of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, Stepan Bandera was responsible for drafting the Party’s “Minority Policy”, which included a line about how “Jews are to be isolated, removed from governmental positions in order to prevent sabotage…Those who are deemed necessary may only work under strict supervision and removed from their positions for slightest misconduct…Jewish assimilation is not possible.” 

During Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Bandera declared that Ukraine was henceforth an independent state led by Adolf Hitler. After Bandera wrote a proclamation that included the words “Glory to the heroic German army and its Führer, Adolf Hitler”, a series of attacks broke out against and Jews and Poles.

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism throughout the world.