Trudeau pranked by caller pretending to be Greta Thunberg
‘Leave Nato, drop your weapons, pick flowers, smile at nature,’ says fake Greta on call with Trudeau
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Two Russian comedians have released a video in which they appear to have successfully prank-called the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, pretending to be Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, who call themselves Vovan and Lexus, released a clip of their 10 minutes chat on YouTube, where they talked about world politics and “leaving Nato” with the Canadian prime minister, who responded to most of the questions diplomatically.
The call seems to have been recorded earlier this year around the time of the downing of a Ukrainian jet leaving an airport in Iran, in which 176 people died including scores of Canadian citizens.
The comic posing as the young climate activist tells Mr Trudeau “she” is worried about a “growing international crisis and anticipation of the world war”.
“You are adults but you act like children,” the prankster says.
“We can create a world where there is a place for everyone. For white and black. Christians and Muslims. Trump and Putin. For you and me. For Boris Johnson. For Corbyn. For Terrance and Phillip, who are also known in your country.”
“No, that is exactly, exactly the right perspective,” the Canadian prime minister responds.
Mr Trudeau’s office said it was “not the first prank call of a world leader” and that the prime minister “promptly” ended the conversation after realising he was not speaking to the real Thunberg.
From the audio, it appears likely that Mr Trudeau realised it was a prank call when the fake Thunberg started talking about Terrence and Phillip, two Canadian characters from the cartoon comedy series South Park, and asking him to set up a meeting with them.
“By the way, Mr Prime Minister, can you introduce me to Terrance and Phillip? I know that they are big stars in Canada, but it’s very strange I couldn’t find them in the social networks. Maybe you can help?”
At first, Trudeau says he can look into it, before clarifying who it is the fake Thunberg is talking about.
“I would be happy – I’ll ask my team to try and figure out how we can connect you,” he says. “Because I don’t have their direct coordinates with me now.”
“Were they not in South Park?” he then asks.
“I don’t personally know them. I believe they are South Park parodies of Canadians,” he says, before ending the call.
The pranksters have in the past claimed credit for tricking the French president Emmanuel Macron, US Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, and Prince Harry.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments