Russian TV pranksters fooled Sir Elton John with call from ‘Vladimir Putin’
Russian pranksters claim they fooled Sir Elton John with a prank call – by pretending to be Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this week, Sir Elton John – who has a large following in Russia – called for President Putin to meet with him to discuss his country’s anti-gay laws, saying: “I’d probably not [change his mind], but I’ll have a go! I’d love to meet him, I’d love to sit down with him and talk to him.”
The singer later claimed that he had received a call from President Putin, writing on his official Instagram: “Thank-you to President Vladimir Putin for reaching out and speaking via telephone with me today.”
However, the story took a strange twist when a spokesperson for President Putin insisted he had never spoken to the singer, and had no plans whatsoever to meet him.
It has today emerged that the entire incident may have been an elaborate hoax, set up by TV pranksters Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov, known as ‘Vova and Lexus’.
According to the Telegraph, the pair said in a statement that they pranked the singer for Russian TV station Channel 1 – and will be playing the audio of the call tonight.
The pair said: “We think that Putin is unlikely to want at least in the near future to meet with him and to call, but it turned out that Elton John was waiting for that call, so immediately believed in the reality of a conversation with the people that we represent.
“He said: ‘Thank you. You made my day. This day, and the conversation was the most wonderful and beautiful in my life.”
Putin’s spokesman insisted: “Putin did not have a conversation with Elton John, and most importantly, we did not receive any kind of proposal for a meeting from him.”
