Berlin's Mayor Giffey has already fallen for a false Klitschko, and now US author Stephen King is the target of the Russian comedian duo responsible for the calls.
US bestselling author Stephen King says he fell for a fake video call from the Russian duo Wowan and Lexus (English: Vovan and Lexus). "I'm embarrassed," King wrote on Twitter. In a video of the conversation, the 74-year-old is asked about the Ukrainian nationalist and anti-Semite Stepan Bandera, among other things. King's response: "Overall, Bandera is a great man, I think." The writer said he had been tricked on Twitter and then admitted: "I had no idea who this Bandera guy was."
King told the Portland Press Herald newspaper in his home state of Maine that he thought he was speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "The guys were good, I can say that," he told the newspaper in an email. During the conversation, he was shown a video with Selenskyj and an alleged translator.
The author added that he thought Bandera was one of Zelenskyy's generals or advisers. Bandera was the leader of the radical wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) during World War II. Nationalist partisans from western Ukraine were responsible for ethnically motivated expulsions in 1943, in which tens of thousands of Polish and Jewish civilians were murdered.
"My conclusion: Once fooled, shame on them," the newspaper quoted the author, who can be seen in the video with a Ukraine cap. With books like "Stuffed Animal Cemetery", "Shining" or "It", King scared millions of people around the world and is considered one of the best-known and most successful writers of his generation.
The Russian duo has been known for years for tricking high-ranking politicians and other international celebrities with fake calls. In recent weeks, the two trolls, celebrated by the state media and the Russian leadership, have misled several European mayors - including Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey - and other celebrities. They usually publish recordings of the conversations on Russian social networks with a delay.
