Topics: Tucker Carlson, YouTube
InfoWars host and far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has lashed out on his show after being duped by a prank caller pretending to be Tucker Carlson.
Jones, who was last year ordered to pay almost $1.5 billion for claiming that the devastating 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax, was furious this week after being taken for a fool by a notorious prankster.
YouTuber Chris James, who runs the channel NotEvenAShow, tweeted on Wednesday (3 May) that he had successfully pranked Jones using an AI-generated version of ex-Fox host Tucker Carlson's voice.
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"Okay so let's say someone has Tucker Carlson's cell number, and also Alex Jones' cell phone number, and also an AI Tucker Carlson voice," he began.
"They could IN THEORY call Alex Jones and pretend to be Tucker and have a full conversation with him. Anyway I just did that."
Elsewhere in his thread, James, who goes by Prank Stallone on Twitter, said he was 'caught off guard' by how easily Alex Jones believed he was really Tucker Carlson.
He also teased that he'll post a recording of his conversation with Jones to his YouTube channel on Monday (8 May).
While some users didn't believe him at first, it wasn't long until Jones confirmed the story himself.
In the latest episode of InfoWars, Jones called out James and threatened him with legal action.
"Hey let me tell the little prankster, uh, Prank Stallone, something," he said on his show.
"Tucker Carlson's lawyers are involved and what you did, we believe, is a crime.
"So I think, even though you think you're safe up in Canada, you're going to get arrested for what you did yesterday. So keep laughing, you little arrogant person.
"And give me your best - leak my phone number everywhere, attack us more - you messed with the wrong people, son. You messed with the wrong people, punk."
Jones went on to spend the next 30 minutes demanding that James came on the show so that Jones could determine whether he was linked to a government organisation.
He also admitted that it was only when James, pretending to be Carlson, started saying sexually lewd things on the call, that he realised it wasn't really the former Fox host.
James has said that, since Jones mentioned the prank on his show, he's been getting all sorts of 'threatening messages', but seems as though he still plans to go ahead with Monday's post.
In a later update to absolutely shocked fans, James claimed he had had a real conversation with Jones, who wanted him to come on the show and explain himself.
"I just talked to him on the phone and he told me that Tucker is getting his lawyers involved, and pleaded with me to come on his show live so I could explain myself," he tweeted.
"I politely declined, and then he called me some names. I have the recording of the call."
This isn't the first time that James has used his pranking abilities to embarrass far-right figures.
In the past, he has humiliated the likes of podcaster Ben Shapiro, UKIP head Nigel Farage, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
