From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Masked Avengers’ prank on Sarah Palin
The Masked Avengers’ prank on Sarah Palin
Critics of Palin voiced their concern what they saw as her
lack of foreign policy experience,[3][4][5] especially after
an interview with Katie Couric of the CBS Evening News
where Palin was criticized by many for her answer to a
question about her "foreign policy credentials". [5][3]
Preparation
Marc-Antoine Audette said that it took the duo about
four or five days of calls to Palin’s staff to finally be able
to talk to her.[6] They claimed that they started by talking
to low-level people in Alaska and made their way up
through Palin’s campaign staff.[7] Audette said that at
first they didn’t think their prank would work, calling it
a "mission impossible". He claimed that "after about a
dozen calls", the duo "started to realize it [the prank call]
might work, because her [Sarah Palin’s] staff didn’t know
the name of the French President. They asked us to spell
it."[7] Audette and Trudel credited their ability to make
Sarah Palin in Dover, New Hampshire, October 2008.
their way up through Palin’s staff to sounding convinc-
ing during the first few calls, always arranging to place
On November 1, 2008, American vice-presidential
the call at a set time, and not leaving a contact number.[8]
candidate Sarah Palin fell prey to a prank call by the
The four days of calls needed to talk to Palin was quick-
Masked Avengers, a Canadian radio comedy duo, who
er compared to some of their other pranks. Audette and
tricked Palin into believing she was talking to French
Trudel said that it took them two months to talk to Paul
President Nicolas Sarkozy. During the conversation, the
McCartney and one to talk to Bill Gates, but only two days
fake Sarkozy talked to Palin about foreign policy, hunt-
to prank Britney Spears.[7]
ing, and the 2008 U.S. presidential election. After it was
revealed to Palin that the call was a prank, she handed
the phone to one of her assistants who told the comedy Conversation
duo "I have to let you go" and hung up.
Finally, on November 1, the Masked Avengers were able
Both the McCain and Obama campaigns released
to talk to Palin. The call began with Trudel, who claimed
light-hearted statements about the prank. However, a
to be an aide to Sarkozy named "Frank l’ouvrier", talking
McCain campaign advisor said that behind the scenes,
to an assistant to Palin who identifies herself as "Lexi".
aides and advisors to the campaign were not happy that
Lexi puts Palin on the line, who says "hello" only to real-
the pranksters were able to lie their way up to Palin, or
ize that Trudel is still on the other line. Trudel tells Palin
with the publicity Palin received because of the call.
to hold on for a moment while he gives the phone to
Sarkozy, who is really Audette. Palin can be heard talk-
Background ing to someone in the room about when to hand Palin the
phone. Audette then begins to speak.[9]
The Masked Avengers, a Canadian radio duo from Mon-
treal, Quebec radio station CKOI-FM, had become notori- “ Audette: Yes, hello, Governor Palin? Yes, hello, ”
ous for making prank calls to celebrities. Disc jockeys and Mrs. Governor?
comedians Sébastien Trudel and Marc-Antoine Audette Palin: Hello this is Sarah, how are you?
had previously pranked celebrities like business mogul Audette: Fine, and you, this is Nicolas
Bill Gates, golfer Tiger Woods, singer Britney Spears, and Sarkozy speaking, how are you?
French president Nicolas Sarkozy.[1] Palin: Oh... so good, it’s so good to hear
Sarah Palin was the Republican governor of Alaska. you. Thank you for calling us.
On August 29, 2008, John McCain announced that she Audette: Oh, it’s a pleasure.
would be his running mate in the 2008 presidential elec- Palin: Thank you sir, we have such great
tion against Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden.[2] respect for you, John McCain and I, we love
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Masked Avengers’ prank on Sarah Palin
you and thank you for spending a few minutes experienced enough in foreign relations, and
to talk to me. you know, that’s completely false, that’s the
Audette: I follow your campaigns closely thing I said to my great friend, the Prime Min-
with my special American Advisor Johnny Hal- ister of Canada, Stef Carse.[nb 5]
lyday,[nb 1] you know? Palin: Well, he’s doing fine, too, and yeah
Palin: Yes! Good! when you come into a position underestimat-
Audette: Excellent! Are you confident? ed, it gives you the opportunity to prove the
Palin: Very confident and we’re thankful pundits and the critics wrong. You work that
that the polls are showing that the race is much harder-
tightening and-- Audette: I, I was wondering because you
Audette: Well I know very well that the are also next to him, one of my good friends,
campaign can be exhausting. How do you feel also, the prime minister of Quebec, Mr.
right now my dear? Richard Z. Sirois,[nb 6] have you met him re-
Palin: Ah, I feel so good. I feel like we’re in cently? Did he come to one of your rallies?
a marathon and at the very end of the Palin: Uh, haven’t seen him at one of the
marathon, you get your second wind and you rallies, but it’s been great working with the
plow to the finish— Canadian officials in my role as governor; we
Audette: You see, I got elected in France have a great cooperative effort there as we
because I’m real and you seem to be someone work on all of our resource development pro-
who’s real as well. jects. You know I look forward to working
Palin: Yes, yeah, Nicolas, we so appreciate with you and getting to meet you personally
this opportunity. and your beautiful wife, oh my goodness,
Audette: You know, I see you as a presi- you’ve added a lot of energy to your country,
dent, one day, you too. even, with that beautiful family of yours.
Palin: [laugh] Maybe in 8 years. Audette: Thank you very much. You know
Audette: Well, ah, I hope for you. You my wife, Carla, would love to meet you. You
know we have a lot in common because per- know even though she was a bit jealous that I
sonally one of my favorite activities is to hunt was supposed to speak to you today. [hahaha-
too. ha]
Palin: [giggle] Oh very good, we should go Palin: [hahahaha] Well give her a big hug
hunting together. from me.
Audette: Exactly! We could go try hunting Audette: You know my wife is a popular
by helicopter, like you did, I never did that. singer and a former top model and she’s so
Palin: [giggle] hot in bed. She even wrote a song for you.
Audette: Like we say in France, "on pour- Palin: Oh my goodness! I didn’t know that.
rait tuer des bébés phoques aussi".[nb 2] Audette: Yes, in French, it’s called "Du
Palin: [giggle] Well I think we could have a rouge à lèvres sur une cochonne"[nb 7] or if
lot of fun together as we’re getting work done, you prefer in English Joe the Plumber, [sings]
we can kill two birds with one stone that way. "It’s his life, Joe the Plumber...."
Audette: I just love killing those animals. Palin: Maybe she understands some of the
Mm, mm. Take away a life, that is so fun! unfair criticism but I bet you she is such a
Palin: [hahahaha] hard worker, too, and she realizes you just
Audette: I’d really love to go as long as we plow through that criticism like....
don’t bring your Vice president Cheney.[nb 3] Audette: I just want to be sure, I don’t
[hahahaha] quite understand the phenomenon "Joe the
Palin: No, I’ll be a careful shot, yes. Plumber", that’s not your husband, right?
Audette: You know we have a lot in com- Palin: Mmhmm, that’s not my husband,
mon also except that from my house I can see but he’s a normal American who just works
Belgium.[nb 4] That’s kind of less interesting hard and doesn’t want government to take his
than you. money.
Palin: Well, see, we’re right next door to Audette: Yes, yes, I understand, we have
other countries that we all need to be working the equivalent of Joe the Plumber in France,
with, yes. it’s called, "Marcel, the guy with bread under
Audette: Some people said in the last days, his armpit, oui."
and I thought that was mean, that you weren’t
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Masked Avengers’ prank on Sarah Palin
Palin: Right. That’s what it’s all about, is comedians with a bad French accent."[7][8] The Masked
the middle class, and government needing to Avengers also admitted that the call was "probably the
work for them. You’re a very good example biggest [prank] we’ve ever done."[1]
for us here.
Audette: I seen a bit about NBC even Fox
News wasn’t an ally, an ally, sorry, about as
much as usual.
Palin: Yeah that’s what we’re up against.
Audette: I must say, Governor Palin, I love
the documentary they made on your life, you
know, Hustler’s Nailin’ Palin.[nb 8]
Palin: Oh, good, thank you. Yes.
Audette: That was really edgy.
Palin: [laughs] Well good.
Audette: I really love you. And I must say
something, so, Governor, you’ve been
The prank allegedly caused friction between Sarah Palin and
pranked. By the Masked Avengers. We’re two John McCain.
comedians from Montreal.
Palin: Oohhh have we been pranked? And When recalling the experience, Audette said that
what radio station is this? "once we [Audette and Trudel] started making jokes, she
Audette: This is for CKOI in Montreal. didn’t seem to mind, and she didn’t seem to be aware
Palin: In Montreal? Tell me the radio sta- of the fact we were making jokes", which according to
tion call letters.[nb 9][9][10] Audette was when "we were like ’Oh my God this [call] is
At this point, Palin leaves the phone and can be heard in gonna be long’".[14] The duo also said that they weren’t
the background telling her aides that the call was "just a trying to make any political statements with the call,
radio station prank". Audette is still on the line and jokes they just like to take high-profile people to task.[14]
that "if one voice can change the world for Obama, one
Viagra can change the world for McCain." One of Palin’s
assistants picks up the phone and says "I’m sorry, I have Impact
to let you go. Thank you."[9] After McCain and Palin were defeated in the general elec-
tion, a Republican campaign advisor told The New York
Reaction Times that the McCain Campaign was not happy about
the prank, which caused friction between McCain and
In an e-mail, Palin spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt wrote Palin.[15][16] McCain and his advisors were allegedly up-
that "Governor Palin was mildly amused to learn that she set that Palin did not tell them beforehand that she
had joined the ranks of heads of state, including Presi- planned to speak with who she thought was Nicolas
dent Sarkozy, and other celebrities in being targeted by Sarkozy. McCain strategist Steve Schmidt called a meet-
these pranksters. C’est la vie."[11][12] When asked by re- ing and demanded to know who let Palin talk to the fake
porters about the conversation, Palin said that she would Sarkozy without checking with senior advisors first.
"keep a sense of humor through all of this, just as we Steve Biegun, one of Palin’s aides admitting to vetting
[the McCain campaign] did with SNL [parodies of her], the call without speaking to campaign advisors or the
too."[13] She added that "you’ve got to have some levity U.S. State Department, told the Los Angeles Times that "No
in all this."[13] one’s going to beat me up more than I beat myself up for
Barack Obama senior advisor Robert Gibbs jokingly setting up the governor like that."[15][16]
said in an interview that "I’m glad we [the Obama cam-
paign] check out our calls before we hand the phone to
Barack Obama."[11] See also
The Masked Avengers received a sudden burst of • Parodies of Sarah Palin
fame from the prank. They gave more than 300 inter- • Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin
views about the conversation, and were even flown to • Canada and the 2008 United States presidential
New York City by CBS to appear on The Early Show.[14] election
In an interview, Marc-Antoine Audette and Sébastien
Trudel said that they found it "pretty disturbing to see
that idiots like us can go through to a vice-presidential
candidate", and claimed that they were just "two stupid
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Masked Avengers’ prank on Sarah Palin
References Palin_mildly_amused_by_shock_jock_prank/
UPI-58461225581873/. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
[1] ^ Nichols, Hans (2008-11-01). "Palin Tricked Into [13] ^ Bolstad, Erika (2008-11-13). "Prank call from
Chat With Canadian Comic Posing as Sarkozy". comedians tests Palin’s sense of humor". Centre
Bloomberg L.P.. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ Daily Times. http://www.centredaily.com/505/
news?pid=20601087&sid=aWvdSt1G3ztU. Retrieved story/962552.html. Retrieved 2008-11-28.
2008-11-27. [14] ^ "Montreal duo who pranked Palin tell their
[2] Washington Wire (2008-08-29). "When John Met story". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Sarah: How McCain Picked Palin". Wall Street 2008-11-04. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2008/
Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/08/ 11/04/mtl-justiciersmasques1104.html. Retrieved
29/when-john-met-sarah-how-mccain-picked- 2008-11-28.
palin/. Retrieved 2008-11-27. [15] ^ "Quebec comedy duo caused friction between
[3] ^ "Poll shows Palin might be losing some of her Palin, McCain". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
luster". Boston Globe. 2008-09-27. 2008-11-06. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/
[4] Chivers, C.J. (2008-09-16). "Georgia Offers Fresh 2008/11/06/mtl-palinmaskedavengers1106.html.
Evidence on War’s Start". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/world/ [16] ^ Goodman, Lee-Anne (2008-11-06). "Knives come
europe/16georgia.html?em. Retrieved 2008-09-15. out for Sarah Palin; McCain aides tell tales of an ill-
[5] ^ "Palin’s ABC Interview: Stumped On Bush informed diva". Yahoo! News.
Doctrine". The Huffington Post. -2008-09-11. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081106/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/11/ world/blame_palin. Retrieved 2008-11-28.
palins-abc-interview-stum_n_125818.html.
Retrieved 2008-11-27.
[6] "Quebec pair prank Palin with faux-Sarkozy phone
Notes
call". CTV Television Network. 2008-11-01. [1] Johnny Hallyday is a French singer and actor.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/ [2] Translates in English to: "We could also kill some baby seals."
CTVNews/20081101/palin_prank_081101/ [3] Audette was making a reference to the Dick Cheney hunting
20081101?hub=TopStories&s_name=. Retrieved incident, where Cheney accidentally shot and injured a
2008-11-23. hunting partner.
[7] ^ Edwards, David; Kane, Muriel (2008-11-03). [4] Audette made a reference to Palin’s interview with Katie
"Canadian phone pranksters: Palin ’as gullible as Couric, where Palin, when asked what insight she had from
Britney Spears’". The Raw Story. living so close to Russia, answered "They’re our next-door
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/ neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in
Canadian_DJs_Palin_more_gullible_than_1103.html. Alaska, from an island in Alaska."
Retrieved 2008-11-27. [5] Stef Carse is a singer. The actual Prime Minister of Canada is
[8] ^ "Palin’s staff didn’t know French president’s Stephen Harper.
name - prankster". The New Zealand Herald. [6] Richard Z. Sirois is a Quebec radio host; he co-hosts his
2008-11-04. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/ afternoon show with the Masked Avengers on CKOI-FM. The
news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10541077. actual Prime Minister of Quebec is Jean Charest (the word
Retrieved 2008-11-27. usually used in English for the function is Premier).
[9] ^ CatM (2008-11-01). "Sarah Palin Prank Call [7] Translates in Engish to: "Lipstick on a pig"
Transcript *Update". Daily Kos. [8] Who’s Nailin’ Paylin? is a pornographic film that satirizes Palin.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/1/ [9] In promotions for the station, "CKOI" is pronounced "C’est
163922/235/763/649110. Retrieved 2008-11-28. quoi?", French for "What is it?".
[10] "Transcript of prank call between Sarah Palin and
"The Masked Avengers"". Yahoo! News. 2008-11-01.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081101/
External links
entertainment/palin_transcript. Retrieved • Sarah Palin duped by prank call, BBC, 2 November
2008-11-28. 2008
[11] ^ "Sarah Palin fooled by fake Sarkozy". Welt Online. • "’I see you as president.’ ’Maybe in eight years,’ says
2008-11-02. http://www.welt.de/english-news/ Sarah Palin". The Guardian, November 4 2008. Edited
article2661691/Sarah-Palin-fooled-by-fake- transcript of the exchange.
Sarkozy.html. Retrieved 2008-12-08. • Official video: Sarah Palin got pranked (requires
[12] "Palin ’mildly amused’ by shock jock prank". United Flash).
Press International. 2008-11-01.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/01/
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Masked Avengers’ prank on Sarah Palin
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/in-
dex.php?title=The_Masked_Avengers%27_prank_on_Sarah_Palin&oldid=436958222"
Categories:
• Canadian radio comedy
• Parodies of Sarah Palin
• 2008 in Canada
• Hoaxes in the United States
• Hoaxes in Canada
• 2008 in American politics
• 2008 hoaxes
This page was last modified on 30 June 2011 at 00:49. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
5