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Thursday, September 17, 2015 9:25am ET by  
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Sir Elton John's Putin call was fake: 'Homophobia isn't funny'

Music legend Sir Elton John recently expressed a desire to meet with Russian President Putin in order to discuss the country's frightening LGBT issues and lack of rights, and supposedly Putin had called him on the telephone earlier this week after hearing that he was interested in a conversation. 

However, the Kremlin has since denied that Putin made contact with the 'Your Song' icon and it has now been revealed that Sir Elton was in fact pranked by Russian TV presenters Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov, who are known by the nicknames ‘Vova and Lexus'.

The pair admitted to phoning Sir Elton and they managed to convince him that he was talking to the Russian president and his press secretary, Dmitry Peskov. Speaking about the prank, they explained: 

"We think that Putin is unlikely to want at least in the near future to meet with him and to call, but it turned out that Elton John is waiting for that call, so immediately believed in the reality of a conversation with the people that we represent. He said, ‘Thank you. You made my day. This day, and the conversation was the most wonderful and beautiful in my life’."

Sir Elton John has now spoken out about being led to believe he had a conversation with Putin and told his Instagram followers that he appreciates a good joke and holds no grudges, but doesn't want this incident to make light of the issues Russia so desperately needs to address:

"Pranks are funny. Homophobia, however is never funny. I love Russia and my offer to talk to President Putin about LGBT rights still stands. I will always stand up for those that are being degraded and discriminated against. If this unfortunate incident has helped push this vital issue back into the spotlight, then I am happy to be pranked on this occasion. @ejaf @president_vladimir_putin #lgbt #lgbtrights #ShareTheLove."

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Watch coverage of Sir Elton and the prank here:

 

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