Bernie Sanders would apparently wear a gold chain and rap in front of posh cars in order to battle climate change, an idea suggested by Russian pranksters. But being called a KGB sleeper agent proved to be too much.
The Democratic primary frontrunner seems to be the latest target of the comedy duo Vovan and Lexus, who have for years been playing pranks on the world’s leading politicians. Their latest hoax was to phone people while posing as Greta Thunberg, the teen climate activist, and her father. Representative Maxine Waters and actor Joaquin Phoenix were previously pranked by the fake Greta, and now it was apparently the social democrat’s turn.
Sanders, or a person sounding very much like him, called the pranksters back after they left their number with his staff. ‘Greta’ complimented the senator’s climate program and they agreed that an endorsement from the young activist, whom he thanked for rallying young people, would be good for the Sanders campaign.
The pranksters suggested Sanders could better engage young people if he collaborated with singers Billie Eilish and Kanye West to star in a rap music video. There would be luxury cars and girls and Bernie would have to wear “gold jewelry,” the fake Greta said. The senator apparently thought it was a joke, since he laughed and said “OK.”
Also on rt.com ‘You guys are brilliant’: Joker’s Joaquin Phoenix loved getting pranked by Russian YouTubers posing as Greta ThunbergThe conversation then turned to Russia and what advice Sanders could give to ‘Greta’ if she were to visit the country (like he did thirty years ago). He said she should be careful not to be used by Moscow for publicity and that he believed Russia was “bad on climate change.”
The pranksters then turned to discussing the differences between communism and socialism and whether Sanders thought he had been recorded by the KGB during his trip to Yaroslavl.
It culminated with ‘Greta’ making an outlandish claim that Sanders had been brainwashed and turned into a Manchurian candidate-style sleeper agent and that it was time for her, a Russian agent herself, to activate him with a code phrase. Sanders then ended the call.
It’s not clear when the prank was recorded, but Vovan sort of announced it on Thursday.
Vovan and Lexus are stage names of Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, who have been collaborating since 2014. Over the years they have tricked many public figures, from singer Elton John to President Emmanuel Macron of France. Some people, like Representative Waters fell for their hoaxes more than once.
Ironically, the endgame part of the Sanders prank does not sound as absurd as it should. Both Sanders and Thunberg have been publicly called ‘Russian assets’. Well, who isn’t these days?
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