It had looked as though life for the LGBT community was about to be acknowledged in a meaningful way when Sir Elton John announced that President Putin was ready to talk about gay rights in Russia, however it turned out to be a hoax.
It had seemed that the Rocket Man singer had managed the impossible when he told the media that he had in fact spoken to Putin and been invited to Moscow to talk about gay rights in Russia. It soon emerged that Sir Elton had been talking with a prankster.
Here we have the audio of the English part of a prank phone call between Elton John and Vovan and Lexus the Russian comedians who pretended to be President Putin.
Prank Putin – Elton John Phone Call (English Only)
Last night in an interview on Russia Today Vovan and Lexus revealed it was actually them saying,
“We gave Elton what he wanted”.
The phone call itself did not outwardly mock Sir Elton, though towards the end did invite the popstar to Gay Pride in Moscow which has been banned in the country for years.
The Russian President was responsible for signing in an anti-gay law that forbids the “propaganda” of non-traditional relationships to anyone under the age of 18. Same-sex relationships are considered non-traditional in Russia.
Speaking to Russian news agency TASS, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary said,
“We are aware [of John’s intention to have a meeting] from media reports, but we haven’t received any signals directly from Sir Elton John.
“Given that there have been many insinuations in the media lately, we are treating information of that kind carefully.”
