“Putin” call to Elton John revealed to be prank

“I would much prefer and advocate a meeting with David Cameron, not because the Prime Minister shares Mr Putin’s views but because he simply does not share those views, and it could start a process whereby the discrimination can be fought and defeated”. “If this unfortunate incident has helped push this vital issue back into the spotlight, then I am happy to be pranked on this occasion.” class=”local_link” target=”_blank” show of support for LGBTs at a concert in Kiev last week.

“He heard that you wanted to talk to him about important problems of the Russian life”, a translator told JOHN on what was presented as a phone call from a PUTIN aide, to which JOHN responded, “That is incredible…”

Audio has emerged of the phone call Elton John thought he was having with Vladimir Putin about gay rights.

A 2013 law made it illegal to provide information about homosexuality to people under 18 and a report by Human Rights Watch previous year pointed to Moscow’s failure to prevent and prosecute homophobic violence amid a rise in attacks against minorities.

As previously reported, John recently called on Putin to meet with him, after speaking with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko on LGBT rights in his country.

The singer posted to his Instagram today saying: “Pranks are amusing”.

“Tell him I’m extremely honoured that he’s calling me and that I’m speaking to him”. The voice at the other end of the telephone was not Putin but “Vladimir Krasnov, known as Vovan”, a Russian celebrity.

John agreed to travel to Moscow for a Gay Pride event, and said he hoped to have a “wonderful discussion” with Putin.

“It turned out that Elton John was really waiting for this call, and so he immediately believed it really was a conversation with the people who we said we were”, he told newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. He said: ‘Thank you.

He said: “It’s a great privilege to be able to speak to one of the most influential people in the whole world”. Together with his “comedy side-kick” they made the hoax call to the singer and pretended to be Putin and Putin’s press secretary.

After it became clear that the call had been fake, the singer followed up with another Instagram post making his feelings clear.