In the summer, the name of Vardan Karapetyan, a Syrian-Armenian, now an Armenia-based young man, was circulating on the Facebook social network. According to the posts, the famous Playboy magazine has offered him 1 million dollars and a BMW X6-make car with honoraria to photograph him nude. “Aravot” decided to meet with the young man to learn the details of this deal. In an interview with us, Vardan Nahapetyan, first of all, mentioned that he has not yet officially rejected the offer nor has given his consent. He also added that 2 of his photos are already posted on the website of Playboy, while in the case of agreeing, the title would be the “First nude Armenian boy.”
Then, he expressed uncertainty regarding the posts once made on the social networks, citing to the words of one of the founders of Playboy published in 1953, Hugh Heffern, saying, “I have never thought that Playboy magazine has a sexual character. The Russian version of the magazine, which was published since 1995 and the Ukrainian – since 2005, it is true that they often make fuss mostly about the photos of naked women but let me remind you that there was a time when our magazine has played a great role for many renowned artists, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Pamela Anderson, Cindy Crawford and others on the way to achieve recognition. It also contains articles about fashion, sports, different brands, as well as episodes of public and political figures such as Daniel Ortega, Yasser Arafat, John Lennon, Garry Kasparov and others that are unknown until now are illustrated.”
To our curiosity about how he has attracted the attention of the magazine and whether it is not related to the war in Syria, our interlocutor, firs of all, reminded that mostly the Armenian-populated areas were bombed in the recent days, and as for him being a native of Syria, he just said that it is not excluded. “My photo attracted the attention of the magazine because I am photographed for a long time advertising different Armenian brands,” said the young man. Then he added, “We should not confuse art with pornography. People who are walking in line with time definitely look such offers as normal.”
Ti our curiosity about the attitude of his family to this offer, especially to the big honorary, Vardan replied, “My family loves art, I am an adult a long time ago, I am a formed person and make decisions alone. Big money does not hurt anyone. To be honest, I do not see any problem at all to “open” photographing.” To add that Vardan Nahapetyan stands under pseudonym Razboy in the advertisement photos, and currently, he is the director of “Yerevan” recording studio.
Samvel DANIELYAN,
“Aravot” Daily
