/ArmeniaNow.com/ By GAYANE ABRAHAMYAN A video clip placed on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6WWuQ_8uVw) has created a minor scandal for a popular Armenian actor and a sports hero.

In what appears to be out-takes from a campaign endorsement for Serzh Sargsyan in the 2008 presidential election, one of Armenia’s most popular contemporary showmen Hrant Tokhatyan (host of the recent All-Armenia Telethon) is heard repeatedly calling former mayor of Yerevan, Yervand Zakharyan “faggot”.

The 58-second video also shows 80-year-old Olympic (1956, 1960) gymnastics champion Albert Azaryan, standing before the “Forward Armenia” campaign logo of now-President Sargsyan.

The sportsman, currently president of the Gymnastics Federation of Armenia, begins his part: “When he (Serzh Sargsyan) is elected, people may be in a very favorable state, and this struggle is not only for Serzh Sargsyan to be elected, but also…” Then Azaryan becomes agitated and mutters vulgarities directed at Sargsyan as he leaves the filming site.

Azaryan told ArmeniaNow that he did not appear in any other campaign spots for the Sargsyan camp.

Legendary gymnast Azaryan assured ArmeniaNow that he has been tripped up, referring to the video material, where he is heard using offensive language.

“I have not watched the video material, but it is an absurdity, it is impossible, because I respect our president, and I love him, and it is not possible. I could not have said such a thing,” says Azaryan adding that it was fabricated to defame him. “There are many people who envy me, because everybody respects me everywhere, there is no doubt that the footage is fabricated.”

If proved to be legitimate, the clip could be seen to bolster the belief of many in Armenia who say that celebrity support of government authorities is more often a matter of popular figures protecting their livelihoods than out of personal political conviction.

ArmeniaNow has not managed to get a comment from Tokhatyan, whose cell phone is switched off.

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