"Long live Gorby superstar": this is how Gorbachev became a pop icon, from Locomía to Pizza Hut

• Documentary Gorbachev, the last believer in the old politics, portrayed by Werner Herzog

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Mijaíl Gorbachov

achieved the impossible: transforming the Ibizan fans of

into the choir of the Coscacos of the gift, even if it was for the space of a song.

His name was, of course,

, and he

, in the middle of Glasnost, when the aforementioned was preparing to occupy the fleeting position of president of the Soviet Union: "When we arrive in Russia / Gorby will welcome us / And in the Red Square / We will shout Freedom", the Cossacks of the Ku disco promised themselves.

Russia was forgetting the father of Perestroika, but as those bizarre Ku-sacks prophesied, Gorbachev became a star:

.

Gorbachev in the series 'The Simpsons'.

He himself took note, and so seriously that he

in 2004, shared with Bill Clinton and the eternal beauty of Sophia Loren, for narrating the disturbing tale of Peter and the Wolf.

Although the story was the work of a compatriot, he had to premiere in English, taking charge of the introduction (Clinton, ahem, was the wolf).

But Gorby retaliated by recording in 2009 in his native language

dedicated to "sweet Raisa", his beloved wife, who had died a decade earlier.

As a pop icon, "Gorby Superstar" has adopted all forms of

, from cup-breakfast-casual to t-shirt, it only needed Warhol to make him a Mao, but the pop artist died in 1987 when the myth was still being forged.

To know more

Russia.

Mikhail Gorbachev dies

• Editorial: XAVIER COLÁSMoscow

Mikhail Gorbachev dies

Analysis.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the architect who destroyed the USSR while trying to save it

• Writing: FELIPE SAHAGUN

Mikhail Gorbachev, the architect who destroyed the USSR while trying to save it

In Spain we were once again at the forefront when Ibáñez published

, a volume of Mortadelo and Filemón in the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall, as a result of the thaw, long before Gorby tried to give George Bush a coffee pot in the 141st episode of the series created by Matt Groening.

It is not known to what extent that cameo in

was a tribute: the clown Krusty suggested that the stain in the form of an imaginary country that he had stamped on his skull was the result of herpes.

Locomía cassette with the song 'Gorbachev'.

Nothing happened either, the Russian always knew how to defend himself: not only did he put an end to the Cold War, he also appeared at the end of the popular video game

to congratulate the strongman Zangief (inspired by the Russian fighter Victor Zangiev): "Comrade Zangief, you have You have made your country proud and you have shown that the Soviet spirit can overcome all obstacles!"

Gorby, who had also been, like Putin, a fighter in his college days, became

(joystick), and he did not lack work in the world of game consoles.

Although they were more benefactor-type jobs: in Gorby's Pipeline (1991) he had to build, in Tetris mode, a water pipeline to Japan, while in Ganbare Gorby, from the same year, he had to bring food and medicine to the most needy.

Video games evolved, but Gorby was not far behind: in Reagan Gorbachev, a game for XBone One and PC released in 2016, the two leaders were no longer at odds.

On the contrary, they had been kidnapped in unison, and had to join forces to escape, overcoming 32 levels of difficulty, using not only their wits, but also pistols and samurai swords.

T-shirt with the face of Gorbachev.

In the world of

, it is clear that Gorbachev never had the talent of his great adversary, a Hollywood star before reaching the White House.

But he knew how to promote Western values ​​like no other by embracing his extreme: that is, participating in

(and donating the profits to his foundation).

In the first, a television advertisement, he burst with his granddaughter, Anastasia Virganskaya, in an establishment of the brand two steps from the Kremlin, where two locals gave a good account, between bites, of the controversy that the leader caused among his .

It was Gorby himself who proposed appearing in front of

's camera while riding in a car, accompanied by a modest bag with the acronym LV, in front of the ruins of the Berlin Wall, whose fall constituted in his eyes one of his greatest achievements.

But, although he inevitably appeared in quite a few documentaries, conversing, for example, with the great Werner Herzog (

, 2018), Reagan's imposing shadow made him lavish rather little as an actor.

He lent himself to a cameo in So Far, So Close!

(1993), the sequel to

(1987): Wim Wenders got him to join thanks to the complicity of the Russian's secretary, who was a fan of the director.

The few Gorbys in the cinema were fakes, representations of an icon, which nevertheless led to a typecasting: in

(1985) he attended the mythical fight between the boxer played by Stallone and Ivan Drago, he was even the first high-ranking Russian dignitary to get up to applaud the emotional final speech for change from a bruised Sly wrapped in stars and stripes.

He was brought to life by British actor David Lloyd Austin, who repeated a role in none other than

, and in the TV series

.

In David Zucker's comedy, Leslie Nielsen surprised him having dinner with Khomeini, Gaddafi and Arafat, and gave him a good beating, even erasing the stain from his skull.

In her case, the worst possible humiliation.

The successful series

(HBO), in which he appeared played by David Dencik, was the reason for his anger due to what he described as

.

We no longer know what he will think of the one that will reproduce the famous Reykjavík summit of 1986, which will have Michael Douglas as Ronald Reagan and Christoph Waltz under the stained skin of Gorbachev.

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