Prank calls or hoax calls are not uncommon in this era of technology. If you search the Youtube, you will find hundreds of them. But prank video calls played on high profile individuals are something very rare. Last week (June 24) international media reported such a prank which was a prank video call made to the famous Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
A prank by Vovan and Lexus
As we know, the Harry Potter author has done tremendous charity work in Ukraine through her foundation, Lumos, for displaced people from the war. Two pranksters approached the Harry Potter author to talk about this extensive charitable work in Ukraine. The two men are two Russian comedians namely Vovan and Lexus or Vladimir .’Vovan’ Kuznetsov and Aleksei ‘Lexus’ Stolyarov, known for pulling off high-profile hoaxes. In the video call, Rowling was tricked into believing she was having a Zoom call with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. There, the camera was off for the audio-only call on the comedians’ end, while it was on, on Rowling’s end. And she was also not aware that she was being recorded as it was planned as a private talk.
The Zoom video call is roughly 12-minutes long. It was first posted to a Russian website, and in it Rowling can be seen sitting in a sun-drenched room on what was supposed to be a video call with Ukrainian President Zelensky to discuss her foundation’s efforts to support children in the country invaded in February by Russia. The video was first reported by the Rowling Library, a website dedicated to news about the author and her work. Then, in a media statement, a spokersperson for Rowling lambasted the prank, calling it “distasteful.” According to it, the prank call had taken place on Friday morning (June 24), and was a “distorted representation of the conversation.”
“We can confirm that J.K. Rowling was a victim of a distasteful hoax video call by Russian pranksters, Vovan and Lexus, posing on camera as Ukraine’s President Zelensky,” the spokesperson said. “J.K. Rowling was approached to talk about her extensive charitable work in Ukraine through her charity Lumos, supporting children and families who have been affected by the current conflict in the region.”
“Hello, Ms. Rowling!”
The ‘pranksters’ video conversation starts like this: “Hello, Ms. Rowling, I want to tell you that I am happy to talk to you, to the greatest writer of our time without any exclusion, and I want to admit that I am big fan of your’s work.”
The author appears to be deceived completely becuase she acknowledges the compliment wholeheartedly.
At the beginning Rowling says, “Out of solidarity with Ukraine, I am not proceeding with certain business interests in Russia.”
Bizarre suggestions
As the conversation progresses, according to the Washington Post, the faceless voice or fake Zelensky makes increasingly bizarre suggestions on how the British author could punish Russia. Among the requests is a suggestion to change Harry Potter’s lightning-bolt-shaped scar to a Ukrainian coat of arms, because the current iteration looks like a “Z,” a symbol of support for the Russian invasion – Russian military has used “Z” symbol on their tanks and other weapons. The pranksters request is to switch Harry’s scar to a more pro-Ukraine symbol.
“It might be good for me to do something with that myself on social media, because I think that would get into the newspapers,” Rowling responds to it while taking down notes during the call.
As per Variety website, the pranksters also mention tp Rowling that the Ukraine military would begin writing “Avada Kedavra” on its missiles, a reference to the killing curse in the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise.
New demands
The fake Zelensky also asks the author if she could “demand that Russians don’t read your books at all,” which in turn Rowling agrees to. He then suggests imposing sanctions on a Russian actor who appeared in the new movie from the Potter prequel series Fantastic Beasts, which was released in April, because it was too late to cut him out of the film.
“I will certainly talk to people and see what we can do,” Rowling replies in what appeares to be a direct response.
According to the www.gizmodo.com, at another point in the call, the prankster tells the author that he’s already spoken to the United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the war but feels like Johnson doesn’t really understand what’s going on in Ukraine.
Real acting
“What is also important for me is to know that people who are not politicians, they really support us, they really feel what we feel, especially many famous writers, many famous musicians,” the fake Zelensky tells Rowling, which sounds almost reasonable until he starts pushing his own career as an actor. “And you know, I was also an actor in the past. Maybe in the future I hope I will take a part in a new movie about Harry Potter, especially when you put the Ukrainian trident on his forehead.”
The pranksters also ask Rowling to clarify where the money collected by her Lumos charity willbe sent, explaining that Ukraine wants to “buy a lot of weapons and missiles with your money to destroy Russian troops. I hope you are all for it.”
Rowling replies to it: “We’ll look after the kids, but I really want Ukraine to have all the arms it needs.”
‘The Order of the Ukrainian Phoenix’ About halfway through, as per Gizmodo website, the fake Zelensky asks whether Albus Dumbledore, one of her characters, is really gay, and inquires with whom the Hogwarts headmaster had slept with, adding “hopefully not a transgender.” The comment was an apparent reference to Rowling’s recent controversial comments that have been criticised as transphobic.
The call ends with the appearance of three people (his team) whom the fake Zelensky introduces as ‘The Order of the Ukrainian Phoenix,’ a reference to one of the books in the Harry Potter series. They wore matching purple T-shirts. There, the duo ended the interview by giving themselves a shout-out, asking Rowling to say hello to “Vovan and Lexus,” his fellow Russian writers. Rowling cheerfully obliges, and the video turns to black.
“Only Putin,” it says in Russian, in support of the country’s leader.
Not the first time
This is not the first time the Russian commedians embarked on to do prank videos on high profile individuals. Since at least 2014, they have fooled singer Elton John, former US President George W. Bush, Vice President Kamala Harris, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Prince Harry. They duped lawmakers in Canada and the United States by pretending to be Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate activist. They persuaded lawmakers throughout Europe that they were a top aide to Alexei Navalny, the jailed Kremlin critic who was poisoned in 2020.
However, Vladimir ‘Vovan’ Kuznetsov and Aleksei ‘Lexus’ Stolyarov deny working for or being involved with the Kremlin in a 2016 interview with The Guardian.
According to the Washington Post the duo took credit for the Rowling prank by uploading the video on Rutube — Russian’s answer to YouTube, which banned the pair earier this month.