Russian pranksters trick JK Rowling into chat about ‘death curse missiles’

JK Rowling has said she "loves the idea" of writing "Avada Kedavra" - the Harry Potter death curse - on missiles bound for the Kremlin's troops in a Zoom call with a Russian prankster who passed himself off as Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ms Rowling was the latest victim to fall foul of Vovan and Lexus, a Russian duo known for their prank chats with prominent leaders and public figures, including Boris Johnson, Prince Harry and Elton John.

Though the conversation between Ms Rowling and the pranksters started out on serious topics, throughout the 12-minute call their questions became increasingly bizarre.

“By the way, I ordered that our fighters write 'Avada Kedavra' on the missiles that we will launch in Donetsk and Luhansk, so how do you like this joke?” one of the pranksters said.

“I love the joke, I love the joke, I really do,” Ms Rowling appeared to reply in a clip posted online, although a spokesperson for the author said the video had been edited and was a “distorted representation” of what happened.

At one point the prankster imitating Mr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, seemed to ask the author whether her character Albus Dumbledore was gay.

“Finally, tell me a secret, I am interested as your fan, is Dumbledore gay? I won't tell anyone, and who did he sleep with?” they said.

‘I always saw Dumbledore as gay’

The author responded: “I said in 2007 that I always saw Dumbledore as gay.”

It is unclear when the call took place, but it was posted online on June 17.

Ms Rowling’s spokesperson said that the deception was “distasteful”.

“JK Rowling was approached to talk about her extensive charitable work in Ukraine, supporting children and families who have been affected by the current conflict in the region,” they told the Hollywood Reporter.

“The video, which has been edited, is a distorted representation of the conversation.”

Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov, their real names, have mostly targeted Russia's foes, leading to accusations they are working on the orders of the Kremlin or the nation's security service, the FSB, which they both have denied.

In 2018, they fooled Boris Johnson into having an 18-minute call with someone he thought was Nikol Pashinyan, the new prime minister of Armenia and in which his British counterpart conceded: “You throw a stone in Kensington and you'll hit an oligarch.”

In March, they managed to fool the Defence Secretary into taking a Microsoft Teams call from his car by impersonating Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister.

Ukrainian nuclear programme

Asked whether he would “like to continue our nuclear programme to defend against Russia”, Mr Wallace allegedly replied that he thought “Russia will not really like that”, before saying all “those bigger questions” would have to be discussed with the Prime Minister.

Afterwards, Mr Wallace dismissed the video as “total clipped garbage”, as he had told the fake prime minister that as treaty signatories to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the UK could not have anything to do with it.

The pair also managed to get through to Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, and hoaxed the Duke of Sussex in 2020 by impersonating Greta Thunberg, the climate activist, getting him to comment on the Royal family.

Elton John has also fallen foul of them, along with leaders of Turkey, Belarus and Ukraine.

Downing Street has previously said that the hoax video calls to Britain’s ministers were an attempt by Putin’s regime to distract from military problems in Ukraine.

“We are seeing a string of distraction stories and outright lies from the Kremlin, reflecting Putin’s desperation as he seeks to hide the scale of the conflict and Russia’s failings on the battlefield,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.