Columnist Marco Omta writes about the Russian president's big April Fools' Joke.
Vladimir Putin has just played what is considered to be the biggest April Fools' prank of all time this past week, with media coverage coming only two days late on April 3. A massive leak of papers revealing information about tax havens held by the company Mossack Fonseca was released to the media and spread rapidly, much of it — about $2 billion — apparently leading back to Putin himself. Infuriating many working class individuals, the media continued to spread and stretch the story as the days went by.
However, Putin recently issued a press release to reveal the reality of the situation.
“It was just a prank. Just a joke,” Putin told reporters. “An April Fools' joke! Get it?”
Putin explained how he completely made up the papers to supposedly reveal a massive leak of information endangering multibillion dollar operations.
“It’s hilarious!” Putin said. “April Fools! These companies aren’t actually doing anything illegal, I promise. And if they were, you’d never know! Classic!”
This led to widespread appraise of Putin and his sense of humor.
“You know, I always knew Putin could take a joke,” one American citizen told reporters. “So what that he banned all memes of himself on the internet? Those aren’t funny, anyway. Now this — this is intelligent, quality humor.”
“Putin is a knee-slapper,” another American citizen said. “Constantly coming up with these genius pranks. What a bro.”
Politicians have had a thing or two to say about the situation, also.
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“I’ve always been close with Putin,” Donald Trump said. “You know, Putin is a very bright and talented man. I’ve said this before. I always knew he had a sense of humor. Rich trying to avoid taxes? What a great joke about something that would never happen.”
“I’m not sure how to take all this,” Hillary Clinton said. “I’m waiting for the Bernie Sanders campaign to make a statement before I say anything.”
Meanwhile, Putin has gone back to his regularly scheduled forced censorship in Russia, demanding thanks for providing the opportunity for the people to laugh at a good joke.
Marco Omta is a freshman studying music production. What do you think about Putin's big joke? Email Marco at mo183714@ohio.edu.
