Stephen King has long been one of my favorite authors. Normally, when I post things about him, it is more or less positive. Not so much today, however.
There are two well-known Russian pranksters who called Stephen King up and then pretended to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Why King believed that Zelensky, who is presiding over a war for his country's very survival, would be calling a popular horror writer from the United States is kind of a mystery.
In any case, these two Russian pranksters, who are known as Vovan and Lexus, got King to look quite compromised, all things told. Here is a summary from a recent article by Lana Cohenstaff of the Portland Press Herald:
In a peculiar video call with King posted online, the pranksters asked King to come to Ukraine and fight as a soldier, asked to get an acting role in a movie and referred to the evil clown in one of King’s novels as a hero. They also baited King into praising Stepan Bandera, a known anti-Semite responsible for brutally murdering thousands of Jews in the 20th century.
So Stephen King was basically tricked into praising a Ukrainian Nazi collaborator guilty of war crimes against Jews during World War II. This, specifically, is how they worded it to King:
“He was in the second world war and he fighted against Soviet Union but yeah he had some crimes but it’s not so big crimes. It’s of course accidentally crimes against Jews, but it’s important to keep him opposed to (Russian President Vladimir ) Putin and he is (used as) propaganda,” the fake Zelensky said.
King responded by saying that everyone has flaws, but that Bandera, who King likely was not familiar with, should be praised as a "great man." Here are his words, taken from that same article:
“You can always find things about people to pull them down,” King responded. “Washington and Jefferson were slave owners, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t do many good things for the United States of America. There are always people who have flaws. We’re human, you know there are things we do that are bad choices and then there are things we do that are great choices, so on the whole I think Bandera is a great man and you’re a great man and viva Ukraine.”
So, who was Stepan Bandera? Again, I turn to the same article by Lana Cohenstaff, who summed up the significance of Bundara fairly succinctly:
In Ukraine, Bandera’s legacy is contentious. Bandera was an ardent Ukrainian nationalist who promoted “ethnic cleansing” and is seen as responsible for the murder of thousands of Jews. But because he was a leader in the fight for Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union throughout his life he is seen by some as a symbol of Ukrainian freedom. In Russia, however, there is only one main view of Bandera, that he was an evil villain and that his followers alive today are neo-Nazis.
Right-wing media here in the United States have long wanted to get back at King for his very vocal stance against Trump from the earliest days of Trump's political rise. So they wasted no time in pouncing on King, condemning him for his words and how he came across overall in the video. According to Cohenstaff, there were some headlines such as “Stephen King praises war criminal Stepan Bandera as a ‘great man’ during call with Russian pranksters.”
Of course, Bandera is not someone who most Americans are familiar with. Admittedly, I did not know who he was or what he had done prior to this story. Evidently, neither did King. Instead of simply admitting to his ignorance on this particular historical figure, he tried to wing it, and it did not come across particularly well. Frankly, it would have likely gone a bit better had he inquired more about who this guy was, and the specifics of who the guy was, and what he did.
When he later explained what happened in the same article, this is what he said:
King told the Press Herald he assumed Bandera was one of Zelensky’s generals or advisers. “Short form, I was cyber-pranked. They had Zelensky on video – not an imitator – and a supposed translator. I made the (video) call and heard Zelensky, but of course the translator was a fake. I think I did pretty well, except for the Bandera question. I didn’t know who he was, so assumed he was one of Zelensky’s generals or advisers. So I went with it,” he said. “My take-away: fool me once, shame on them.”
Below is the link to the Portland Press Herald article that I used, and quotes quite frequently from, for this particular blog entry:
Stephen King admits to falling for Russians’ prank: ‘Fool me once, shame on them’ by Lana Cohenstaff, July 21, 2022:
Stephen King was the latest victim of two Russian pranksters known for tricking celebrities and politicians into believing they are speaking with well-known political figures and activists.
https://www.pressherald.com/2022/07/21/stephen-king-admits-to-falling-for-russians-prank-fool-me-once-shame-on-them/
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