UN chief pranked by fake phone call from Canadian radio comedy team

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was pranked by a phone call from a fake Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during the UN General Assembly annual debate, his spokesman confirmed on Friday.

Martini Nesirky, the UN spokesman, told reporters the Masked Avengers, a Quebec radio comedy team, reached Ban between sideline meetings on Wednesday but said the secretary-general quickly realized it was a prank, adding the pranksters should improve their fake French accents.

The Masked Avengers, Montreal's Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel, fooled former U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin during her failed campaign, thinking she was talking with former French President Nicholas Sarkozy, published reports said. Harper's spokesman tweeted about the prank, "well played."

The Avengers'past victims also included New York real estate magnate Donald Trump, The Canadian Press reported Thursday.