"Putin, a Khublo?" Russian TNT Cuts Joke from Episode 1 of Servant of the People

According to the plot, the Russian president wears Hublot watches.

Russian channel TNT cut a scene from the first episode of the series Servant of the People featuring a joke about Russian President Vladimir Putin and a watch.

In the plot, newly elected Ukrainian president Vasily Goloborodko (Volodymyr Zelensky) is offered a choice of watches. Prime Minister Yuriy Chuiko (Stanislav Boklan) points to one of them and says it is a Hublot ("khublo").

- ... Hublot. You know, by the way, who wears them?

- Who?

- Putin.

- Putin — khublo?

- Yes.

TNT cut exactly this scene. However, as BBC notes, the joke was removed only for viewers in Moscow — in the regions the episode aired in its full version.

The news that “Servant of the People” will be shown on Russian television for the first time came the day after the first in-person meeting of Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, which took place on December 9 in Paris at the Normandy Four summit.

At the same time, in the series' promo, TNT compares the achievements of the real president Zelensky with those of the fictional Goloborodko:

“In the series, he improved the economic situation in the country. And in real life? In the series, he defeated corruption. And in real life? And finally, in the series, he told the EU where to go. And in real life? Anyway, watch the Zelensky version, which turned out.”