After registering for the Russian social media service VKontakte, she used the name Jerry Mouse, referencing the cartoon character of the same name. She then changed Mouse to Heil, claiming she went to a site with American surnames and chose the one she liked the most.
hmm
There’s an outside possibility that her stage name being effectively “Heil Nazi Germany” is a coincidence as she claims.
But her decision to keep that name despite it’s meaning, (which she is clearly aware of as she feels the need to justify it), her popularity in Ukraine despite keeping that name, the Ukrainian state’s decision to send her as their representative to EuroVision and to dress her in an outfit winking coyly at their Nazi national hero, that is a lot of outside possibilities all at once.
If I were into drag performance there’s a 100% chance that I would create a parody character of her and perform a comedic piece based on her song under the character name Stashynsky Squirter and then upload the recording of the performance to social media and tag her in it.
Of course I’d also tell her that Stashynsky seemed like pretty common Ukrainian surname and that I’m only winking at the camera because I have an eyelash caught in my eye.
I can’t think of a single person, American or otherwise, I’ve known with that surname. And from what I know of Americans, they’d change it if that were their name.