Elton John’s Vladimir Putin call was just a prank
It has emerged that the call Elton John claimed he received from Russian President Vladimir Putin was an elaborate hoax by a pair of prankster’s from television.
According to reports, Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov, who are known as “Vova and Lexus”, rang the superstar pretending to be Mr Putin and his press secretary earlier this week.
During the conversation, John can be heard mentioning an earlier chat with President of Ukraine about gay rights and telling Mr Putin “the LGBT population can help boost the economy”.
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According to the Daily Mail, the “proof” of the prank brings to an end speculation that John’s initial Instagram post announcing the chat, was wrong.
On Wednesday, Mr Putin made comments through his press officer, explaining he never spoke with the the pop star.
John opened the fake conversation announcing he was “honoured” to speak to a man with so much power.
The fake call came after John said he wanted to meet Mr Putin to discuss Russia’s hard-line stance on gay rights.
Since the revelation, the 11-minute interview aired on the prankster’s program shown on a state-backed television channel.
Listen to the full prank call below:
