GagaDaily founder says year-long silence was prison in Belarus

The founder of the Lady Gaga fan site GagaDaily has broken more than a year of silence to say he was in prison in Belarus.

Kirill Nguyen, 32, wrote from the @GagaDaily X account that his lack of updates was because he was "literally in prison". The account had gone dark for a year from February 2024, leaving followers without explanation.

Nguyen was raised in Belarus and lived there for most of his life, he told Pitchfork in an interview conducted from another country after his release. He said he attended a protest in Belarus in 2020 and then returned to the country four years later to visit family. He was arrested by state police forces on that return visit.

He was sentenced on 10 May 2024 for taking part in protests in Minsk, according to Meduza. Nguyen said he spent the last two-and-a-half years behind bars before his release. He has not disclosed his current location beyond saying he spoke from outside Belarus.

Nguyen started GagaDaily when he was 14 or 15 after seeing Lady Gaga perform "Just Dance" on YouTube. That bedroom project grew into a large fan-run news and discussion site with a 480,000-follower X account. It has been described as the world's largest Lady Gaga fan community.

Time inside cut him off from pop culture almost entirely. After his release, Nguyen said he was experiencing Lady Gaga's MAYHEM period, the run around her recent album of that name, for literally the first time.

For fans, this means the quiet account finally has an explanation. The person who posted set lists, photos and release news had missed them himself.