| BorisVM |
Two Canadian radio humorists have tricked French President Jacques Chirac into taking their telephone call and broadcast it after pretending to be aides to Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper.
The "Masked Avengers" - radio station CKOI disc jockeys Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel - added Mr Chirac to their long list of victims when they called his office in Paris saying Mr Harper wanted to speak with him.
"I would like to offer my sincere congratulations for your electoral success," Mr Chirac said as he began the call.
"We have excellent relations and I am certain that they will continue in the best spirit," he said.
Using an exaggerated accent, Audette, posing as the victorious Canadian Conservative Party leader, complained to Mr Chirac that French media had given him a "bad reputation" and hoped this could be improved.
"I do not have any concerns and French leaders have no concerns. You cannot stop the press from saying anything at all. It's true in Canada and it's true in France," Mr Chirac told the bogus Harper.
When Mr Chirac added an invitation to 'Harper' to visit France, the fake Canadian prime minister-elect replied that he had already planned to visit France "as the opening act" in a show by Canadian singer Garou.
Told at the end of the conversation that he was talking to Canadian radio, Mr Chirac was philosophical.
"Ah yes, I understand," he said, adding anyway, "Know that my friendship to Canada and to the new Conservative government is a true, unreserved friendship".
Audette told AFP that it only took Mr Chirac's office a half-hour to respond to the duo's enquiry with the news that the French president would be calling back momentarily.
Mr Chirac was "very genial at the end of the call," he said.
Mr Chirac was the most recent in a long list of famous people on the receiving end of the "Masked Avengers" prank calls.
The duo have also managed to talk to Irish rock star Bono, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, singers Celine Dion and Britney Spears and flamboyant US tycoon Donald Trump. |