An attempt to ambush Bono about the move of U2’s business interests from Ireland to a tax haven has backfired on a conservative gotcha style journalist when he failed to realise the man he was talking to was actually an impersonator.
Pretending to be a fan in search of an autograph, Jason Mattera, who according to Spin is well known in the United States for ambushing ‘liberal’ celebrities, fires off a number of confrontational questions apparently unaware that he isn’t talking to the famous U2 frontman.
In the video he chastises Bono (aka impersonator Pavel Sfera) for U2’s attempt to avoid paying taxes in Ireland. “By dodging taxes on royalties, are you raiding the poverty programs you purport to champion?” he asks fake-Bono who replies simply ‘No’.
“Don’t you want governments to be generous with other people’s money and not yours?” he fires back at fake-Bono who returns “I don’t have control of that”.
It isn’t clear exactly when Sfera realises the reporter thinks he is the actual Bono but luckily for us he appears to follow along although he does drop a few hints in his answers to Mattera’s questions.
Mr. Mattera: You didn’t? Your company did it.
Mr. Sfera: I didn’t do it…. I don’t have control over that….
Mr. Mattera: How do you not have control over that? It’s your company.
Mr. Sfera: It’s not my company.
Mr. Mattera: You’re not in charge of your own company?
Mr. Sfera: It’s not my company.
Mr. Mattera: You have no say in what U2 does?
Mr. Sfera: Not particularly.
Mr. Mattera: You don’t? You don’t have a say in what U2 does?
Mr. Sfera: No.
Unfortunately for Mattera, but hilariously for us, he didn’t realise his mistake, even though the impersonator didn’t even bother to answer in an Irish accent, and after visiting the editing suite promptly posted the video online proudly boasting of catching the singer off guard.
Even though Mr. Sfera insists, “I wasn’t pretending to be Bono,” Mr. Mattera told the conservative media who ran with the story on to retract it “I got punked. I thought I got Bono. I didn’t. I got his impersonator apparently. Hats off to him. He got me — and how!”
Enjoy the hilarity thanks to the magic of Youtube below.
