According to reports, two pranksters tricked JK Rowling into thinking she was on a Zoom chat with Ukraine President Vlodymyr Zelensky.
The 12-minute video was reportedly shared by two Russian comedy groups, Vovan and Lexus, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Prince Harry, Billie Eilish, Bernie Sanders, and Kamala Harris are just a few of the famous people who have received “prank calls” from these two.
The 56-year-old agreed in a video to meet with the president of Ukraine due to her charitable work with Lumos in Ukraine, which might assist disadvantaged families and young people there.
During the hoax conversation, the Russian pranksters made a comment about Harry Potter’s Z-shaped scar, saying it resembled the Russian Z military insignia.
Later, they asked the author to change the scar “to the shape of a Ukrainian trident in support of the nation” to which Rowling replied, “I will look into that. It might be good for me to do something with that myself on social media because I think that will get into the newspapers. I didn’t know they were doing that but that’s something I can address personally”.
Additionally, the Zelensky imposters asked if the fictitious Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, was gay or straight.
Rowling responded, “I said in 2007 that I always saw Dumbledore as gay. That’s the truth and it was a big scandal at the time that I said it. But yeah that’s how I still see it. He’s an old man when we see him in the books so his love life is no longer very important.”
Reportedly, after learning about this hoax, Rowling’s spokesperson called it “distasteful and noted”, adding that the “video is a distorted representation of the conversation”.