Two men known for playing pranks on
celebrities have confessed to tricking Sir Elton John into believing
that Russian President Vladimir Putin had reached out to him to
discuss LGBT rights.
Soon after John said in an interview
with the BBC from Ukraine that he would like to meet with Putin, the
singer, who is openly gay, thanked the Russian leader for reaching
out to him in an Instagram post.
“Thank-you to President Vladimir
Putin for reaching out and speaking via telephone with me today,”
John captioned a photo of Putin on Monday. “I look forward to
meeting with you face-to-face to discuss LGBT equality in Russia.”
But the Kremlin denied that the
conversation took place.
On Wednesday, Vladimir Krasnov and
Alexey Stolyarov came forward to take responsibility for the hoax.
The pair discussed their prank on a
late-night talk show, where they played clips of the conversation
“I love Russia,” a voice that
appears to be John's can be heard in the recording. “It's been
part of my life since 1979, and I just want to make the situation
better, if I can.”