Elton John insisted that he was happy that he was pranked after being tricked into thinking he was actually having a conversation with Vladimir Putin. He said that it the conversation is helpful in highlighting gay discrimination.
Sir Elton took to his Instagram page, announcing two days ago that he had received a telephone call from the Russian President. He captioned the photo of Putin, "thank-you to President Vladimir Putin for reaching out and speaking via telephone with me today." And that they had arranged to meet "face-to-face to discuss LGBT equality in Russia".
However, the Kremlin denied that such a conversation had ever taken place. It happened that the musician had been a victim of a prank call by two Russian comedians, Vladimir Krasnov and Aleksey Stolyarov. They had prepared an audio conversation online for the fake call.
Responding to the prank, Sir Elton took to Instagram, writing that while pranks are funny, "homophobia, however is never funny". He once again talked about the offer to talk to Mr Putin, which he initially made in a BBC interview. Elton John mentioned, "I would like to meet Mr Putin." Sir Elton continued by stating, "He may laugh behind my back when he shuts the door, and call me an absolute idiot, but at least I can think I have the conscience to say I tried."
The two pranksters also made their comments about the issue. They told Russia Today that they just gave Elton John what he really asked for and wanted. They claimed, "Unfortunately Vladimir Putin was busy with important state affairs and was abroad. So we thought why not take this over."
In fact, the fake call kicked off a week after Sir Elton visited the Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko. He had previously asked him to stop discrimination in the workplace based on sexuality and gender identity and provide criminal penalties for hate crimes.
And for now, Elton John still stands by his notion that he wants to talk with the Russian President, although he is very candid against Putin for allowing homophobic attacks in Russia. Meanwhile, the full audio of the hoax call is now released online after it was broadcast by the pair on a late-night Russian TV show.
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