NationStates Jolt Archive

Spain Government blasts radio station's prank call to Bolivia's Morales.
Thursday, December 22, 2005 (15:49 GMT)

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- The Spanish government summoned the papal envoy Thursday to protest a prank that a Catholic Church-owned radio station played on newly elected Bolivian President Evo Morales.

A comedian for La Cope radio, pretending to be Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, telephoned Morales to congratulate him for winning the recent election and it broadcast a recording of the conversation.

The hoax went on to hail Morales for joining "the new order" and an "axis" including Cuba and Venezuela.

The recording was made on Tuesday and broadcast in Spain on Wednesday.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told Monsignor Manuel Monteiro de Castro, the papal envoy to Spain, that this incident was "deplorable," saying it could harm the political and economic interests of Spain and its image overseas and must not happen again, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
...
"I imagine the only one not to have called you was George Bush," the hoaxer pretending to be Zapatero said to Morales, adding: "I've been here two years and he still hasn't called me."

Zapatero angered the United States by withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq shortly after being elected in March 2004 and has been working to improve ties since then.

In April 2004, a Miami radio station made a crank telephone call to Cuban President Fidel Castro and broadcast the communist leader's reply before rudely letting him in on the joke.

In 1995, Canadian DJ Pierre Brassard called Buckingham Palace and was able get through to speak to Queen Elizabeth for 15 minutes on air pretending to be Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

Yes, it's rude...but like most of these pranks, damn funny! I'd love to have heard the one made to the Queen...really...they need to screen these calls better!

Damn it Spain,

Grow a sense of humor! This was funny as hell.

Yes, it's rude...but like most of these pranks, damn funny! I'd love to have heard the one made to the Queen...really...they need to screen these calls better!LOL .. yes.. I want to hear that one...

actually I want to hear all 3 :D

LOL .. yes.. I want to hear that one...

actually I want to hear all 3 :D
What would be even funnier, is if some aid had the job of pretending to be the Queen, or Morales, or Castro, and a fake was talking to a fake.

If you understand Spanish the joke is here: http://www.lamanana.com.es/audios/risa-211205.mp3

The joke is quite funny. Nevertheless, in the conversation, Evo Morales speaks of some money Bernardino León Gross (the Spanish Secretary of State for foreign relations) promise him if he won the election. This is why the Spanish government is so nervous and want to close this radio station (“La Cope”).

Rodríguez Zapatero (the Spanish Prime Minister) is a complete asshole. He hates this radio station because they criticized his numerous errors.

Yes, it's rude...but like most of these pranks, damn funny! I'd love to have heard the one made to the Queen...really...they need to screen these calls better!
Not so funny. It's because of willful prats like these that public figures are forced to withdraw - to make themselves that much more invisible.

Think about it for a sec - it sucks. Hard. And why, so some failed stand-up comic-cum radio personality can play it for yuks and ratings? It's frankly pathetic.

Not so funny. It's because of willful prats like these that public figures are forced to withdraw - to make themselves that much more invisible.

Think about it for a sec - it sucks. Hard. And why, so some failed stand-up comic-cum radio personality can play it for yuks and ratings? It's frankly pathetic.

What's the matter Dobbsworld? You don't like comedy?

What's the matter Dobbsworld? You don't like comedy?
I don't particularly approve of dumb yuks at someone else's expense, no. It's something you tend to grow out of after elementary school, assuming you're not living in a state of arrested development.

I don't particularly approve of dumb yuks at someone else's expense, no. It's something you tend to grow out of after elementary school, assuming you're not living in a state of arrested development.

The bolded is a pretty good TV show.

In that case, I take it you don't like Saturday Night Live!

The bolded is a pretty good TV show.

In that case, I take it you don't like Saturday Night Live!
Not since I was maybe 12 or 13 and began to develop my own wit, rather than re-telling jokes.

Not since I was maybe 12 or 13 and began to develop my own wit, rather than re-telling jokes.

Good. I odn't like SNL either.

It's funny for everyone until it happens to them. No one would want to be misrepresented like that, certainly not a politician and leader of an entire nation.

It's funny for everyone until it happens to them. No one would want to be misrepresented like that, certainly not a politician and leader of an entire nation.
Agreed in full, Sdaeriji.
The bolded (DW edit: Arrested Development) is a pretty good TV show.
I know I forever run the risk of sounding like an unmitigated snob, but I lost interest in formulaic serial comedies around the same time I stopped watching SNL. There've been exceptions down through the years, of course - but once a formula becomes too noticeable, my interest wanes and I go back to reading - or making Dalek animations or some other weirdness.

Truth be told, my consumption of television and radio has plummeted - I can't even take the commercials with the sound muted anymore - I'm down from an all-time low of roughly seven hours a week (two nightly national news programs & my old secret vice from college days, the weekly double-header showings of COPS) this summer to maybe two hours a week, all told. My consumption of radio media now stands at zero. It's been three years since I actively tuned in to any radio station or programme, summertime fumblings with old shortwave radios aside.

I'm not mentioning this to sound prideful - I'm just making note of it. You know, I've heard of Arrested Development, and I've heard people say it's really funny, so I won't naysay your stated opinion. Anyway, I'd sooner be doing something like typing messages to people from around the world here on NS than sit staring at... at, well, anything that I can't in some way interact with.

Oh, here I go blathering again... sorry for the hijack. I'm dropping the boxcutters... I won't do it again, I promise.

Think I'll go animate some Daleks for a while.

I actually was listening to the crank call to Castro when it happened. It was...interesting to say the least. It ended with some implyed curseing on castros part and him abruptly hanging up the phone on the 'traitors to the revolution'. I thought it was funny but I dont understand why the Cuban population votes Bush?! I thought they left Cuba because of persecution and totalitarianism? Now they vote for a man who approves of torture(i know this has now been compromised upon) and wiretaps on the American people?! Im dissapointed in my kin...

...I dont understand why the Cuban population votes Bush?!

Im dissapointed in my kin...If I was Cuban I would be dissapointed too.