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Feb 23, 2022
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Sometimes satire is just too on the nose, and this is what one parody account must have learned yesterday when his 'take' on Boris Johnson sanctioning Russia over escalating tensions in Ukraine was taken a little too seriously.
Writing on Twitter, Tim Chapman (@IslingtonChap) trolled the internet by claiming sanctions on Russia could negatively impact landlords, so it is probably best just to go to war instead.
He wrote: "Going after Russian Dark money could cause house prices in Central London to crash overnight. Rents could plummet, jeopardising the livelihoods of tens of thousands of landlords. Hold Mr Putin to account, robustly, by all means. But do so sensibly. Pragmatically. Declare war."
Going after Russian Dark money could cause house prices in Central London to crash overnight.\n\nRents could plummet, jeopardising the livelihoods of tens of thousands of landlords.\n\nHold Mr Putin to account, robustly, by all means. But do so sensibly. Pragmatically. Declare war.— Tim Chapman (@Tim Chapman) 1645521339
While he was joking, and is known for satirising a stereotype of a centrist North London father and landlord, safe to say, people took the bait:
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I love this songhttps://twitter.com/IslingtonChap/status/1496051046938034176\u00a0\u2026— Arbeitology (@Arbeitology) 1645569107
"Won't somebody please think of the Russian mafia and all their wealthy co-conspirators?"pic.twitter.com/4WH5zqx8db— GangofGreenhorns #GeneralStrike (@GangofGreenhorns #GeneralStrike) 1645552850
Found it. I found the worst one. This is the worst take. This is it.https://twitter.com/islingtonchap/status/1496051046938034176\u00a0\u2026— Bryan Coxwell (@Bryan Coxwell) 1645542603
wOn'T sOmEbOdY pLeAsE tHiNk oF tHe lAnDlOrDs— Kat (@Kat) 1645536587
Though some people did notice it was just a joke:
this is so close to the bone it took some reading but I believe I have found the greatest satirical account on this websitehttps://twitter.com/IslingtonChap/status/1496051046938034176\u00a0\u2026— Nicky Woolf (@Nicky Woolf) 1645566544
Took me a minute to realise this was a joke. Very good, Tim!— Elmo 3000 (@Elmo 3000) 1645531504
Superior parody which has caught a lot of people outhttps://twitter.com/IslingtonChap/status/1496051046938034176\u00a0\u2026— Otto English (@Otto English) 1645549347
Not sure I\u2019ve seen a parody account this potent since the early days of Twitter. One of the most perfectly constructed pieces of bait in years.https://twitter.com/IslingtonChap/status/1496051046938034176\u00a0\u2026— John Burn-Murdoch (@John Burn-Murdoch) 1645545173
In case you don't know the context of what 'Tim' was satirising, Johnson announced on Tuesday that three billionaire allies of the Russian president and five Russian banks would face sanctions in response to escalating tensions in Ukraine.
Some like the Labour Party said these didn't go far enough, while foreign secretary Liz Truss was today grilled about Russian donations to the Conservative party.
But won't someone think of the landlords?
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