Rick Perry Gets Trolled By Russian Pranksters

Rick Perry, the former Texas governor, GOP presidential candidate, current Secretary of Energy, and of course, one-time Dancing With the Stars contestant, got crank called last week by Russian pranksters impersonating Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.

On July 19th, Russian pranksters Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov, famous for pulling pranks in the vein of Sacha Baron Cohen characters Ali G, Borat, and Bruno, were able to get on the phone with Perry and talk to the Secretary for 22 minutes. They talked about the Paris Climate Accord, coal policy, development of gas and oil in the Ukraine. In general, it actually seemed like a perfectly legitimate call between two high ranking members of government, save for one moment in which the pranksters asked Perry about the possibility of home-made alcohol and pig manure as a potential energy source.

"I'd like to get more information on that scientific development," said Perry.

It is possible Krasnov and Solyarov were aided by the opportunistic timing of their prank. On June 20th, Perry hosted the Ukrainian Prime Minister Groysman at the Department of Energy, and were planning on meeting again in August. The Russians pranked Perry by impersonating Groysman and requesting a follow-up to their June 20th meeting.

This is hardly the first high profile pranking pulled off by Krasnov and Solyarov. Major figures on their resumé include John McCain, Turkis Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, and perhaps most famously, Elton John. In John's case, the two pretended to be Vladimir Putin after John had criticized Putin's stance on homosexuality.

A spokesperson for Perry admitted the pranking went down, describing the pair as "known for pranking high level officials and celebrities, particularly those who are supportive of an agenda that is not in line with their governments. In this case, the energy security of Ukraine."

This all begs the question: is it really that hard to prank call the government?