When the president of Ukraine calls, you pick up the phone and talk. That’s how Harry Potter author JK Rowling ended up talking to Russian comedians Vovan and Lexus, a comedy duo known for prank-calling celebrities, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
During a conversation available on YouTube, in which she believed she was having with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rowling discussed a variety of topics. The pranksters tell Rowling that Harry Potter’s lightning bolt scar resembles the “Z” symbol seen on Russian military vehicles and ask her if she’d change the symbol to something more pro-Ukraine. “I will look into that, might be good for me to do something with that myself on social media because I think that will get into the newspapers,” Rowling answered.
They also told Rowling that they would begin writing Avada Kedavra on their missiles–the words for a killing curse in the Harry Potter books. They also brought up the author’s anti-transgender stance, asking who Dumbledore has slept with, and saying that they hoped it wasn’t a transgender person.
Rowling’s spokesperson later called the prank “distasteful” in an official statement and condemned the video of the conversation, which they say has been edited and is a “distorted representation of the conversation.”
Rowling’s experience puts her alongside celebrities like Sir Elton John and Billie Eilish, as well as politicians like Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, and George W. Bush, all of whom have tangled with Vovan and Lexus through these pranks. THR notes that Rowling’s Lumos charity has been working in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine to help children and families there and that the author has devoted her Twitter to promoting the organization’s work.
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