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CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview to comment on the state of the U.S. presidential election. She ended up getting a bit more than she bargained for when she prefaced the question with a reference to the Russian punk band 'Pussy Riot.'

Short transcript of the exchange:

AMANPOUR: Can I just try one last question? One last question. A bit cheeky but I'm going to ask you. Russia had its own Pussy Riot moment. What do you think of Donald Trump’s pussy riot moment?

LAVROV: Well, I don't know what this would… English is not my mother tongue, I don't know if I would sound decent. There are so many pussies around the presidential campaign on both sides that I prefer not to comment on this.

Source: Russia's FM Leaves Amanpour Speechless, 'So Many Pussies' on Both Sides of U.S. Election

I dont know if you heared about Russian Foreign minister when he was asked

What does she meant by Pussy Riot ?. I did checked some SO questions about the usage of word pussy. (Could be a cat for example) but my main question the meaning of her question.

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    Pussy Riot is the name of a rock band.
    – Alan Carmack
    Oct 13, 2016 at 18:03
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about learning English.
    – user3169
    Oct 13, 2016 at 18:56
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    This is a valid question about English usage for someone learning the language, in my opinion. If it weren't for stangdon's follow-up comment (incorporated into my answer below), I would have no idea what was meant by Christiane Amanpour's comment either. How else would someone learning English come to understand the sentences in question? I think we should cut @moudiz (and other learners) some slack when it comes to unusual topical usage that is confusing even to native speakers.
    – Mark Hubbard
    Oct 13, 2016 at 19:21
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    I think this is a valid question and I would vote to keep it open. While the question involves current events, it's also about understanding the multiple senses in which the individual words are used, and about what "(noun) moment" means.
    – stangdon
    Oct 13, 2016 at 19:34
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    Always include a larger portion of the text and a link whenever possible.
    – Em. ♦
    Oct 13, 2016 at 19:41

1 Answer 1

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"CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview to comment on the state of the U.S. presidential election. She ended up getting a bit more than she bargained for when she prefaced the question with a reference to the Russian punk band 'Pussy Riot.' Short transcript of the exchange: AMANPOUR: Can I just try one last question? One last question. A bit cheeky but I'm going to ask you. Russia had its own Pussy Riot moment. What do you think of Donald Trump’s pussy riot moment?

"LAVROV: Well, I don't know what this would… English is not my mother tongue, I don't know if I would sound decent. There are so many pussies around the presidential campaign on both sides that I prefer not to comment on this. read more: http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.747244"

"Seeing the transcript, I can now address it more clearly. Amanpour is making a play on words. Russia had an incident involving the band Pussy Riot: a literal "Pussy Riot" moment. Donald Trump also recently had an incident involving the word "pussy", which caused a great uproar: a metaphorical "riot about the word 'pussy'" moment."

(All credit for this analysis goes to @stangdon with my thanks.)

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    Seeing the transcript, I can now address it more clearly. Amanpour is making a play on words. Russia had an incident involving the band Pussy Riot: a literal "Pussy Riot" moment. Donald Trump also recently had an incident involving the word "pussy", which caused a great uproar: a metaphorical "riot about the word 'pussy'" moment.
    – stangdon
    Oct 13, 2016 at 18:44
  • It's a play on words, but once you understand the reference it's not at all obscure.
    – Andrew
    Oct 13, 2016 at 19:48
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    @Andrew - Understanding plays on words can be deceptively difficult for a non-native speaker. What seems intuitive to us can be very difficult to grasp for them.
    – J.R. ♦
    Oct 13, 2016 at 19:57
  • @J.R. fair enough.
    – Andrew
    Oct 13, 2016 at 19:58

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