Did Elton John imagine a phone call from the Russian president? Could someone have impersonated Putin? Or is the Russian president embarrassed? The Kremlin is denying the call ever happened.
Over the weekend Elton John told the BBC he would like to have a chat with Vladimir Putin about the Russian president’s dangerous anti-gay laws and LGBT rights. Yesterday, the singer-songwriter-activist posted a photo of Putin to Instagram, thanking him for the phone call and saying he was looking forward to a “face-to-face” meeting.
Some of us mere mortals likely assume world leaders and rock stars all have each other on speed-dial, but it turns out that may not be the case – in this case.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin flatly is denying any such phone call took place.
Elton John’s claim is “not true,” Dmitry Peskov says. “I don’t know who spoke to Elton John but President Putin did not speak to him,” he said, adding, “most importantly we didn’t receive any proposals to meet.”
“I don’t doubt that if there is such a request, the president will be ready to meet with Elton John among others to give answers to all the questions that he might ask,” Peskov told reporters today. “But we haven’t received such signals yet.”
Could someone have gotten Elton John’s phone number and trolled the rock star?
Or maybe Putin drunk dialed him?
Or maybe he’s just too embarrassed to admit he spoke to an international superstar who happens to also be an LGBT activist?
Sadly, we’ll never know, but at least if the Putin and John ever do meet, they’ll already have something to talk about.
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Image by Marco Fieber via Flickr and a CC license