Swan impersonation doesn't fly at Oscars

Not quite topping Sacha Baron Cohen spilling Kim Jong-il's 'ashes' over a US presenter at the Academy Awards last year, a Ukrainian prankster turned up at this year's ceremony in a swan outfit despite warnings from a top US law firm.

Oscars: no awards for swan prank

Vitalii Sediuk dismissed a ‘threatening letter’ from Academy lawyer and Quinn Emanuel partner David Quinto, which told the Ukrainian if he attempted to attend the invite-only event on 24 February he would ‘be arrested and prosecuted’.

Bjork-inspired

The Hollywood Reporter, which posted the full letter in its report, adds that Mr Sediuk was already well known by authorities after invading the stage at the Grammy Awards alongside Jennifer Lopez, Adele and Pitbull.
Upon arriving on the red carpet, Mr Sediuk walked straight into a flock of LAPD officers, who had been expecting him. He certainly wouldn’t have been difficult to spot, wearing a Bjork-inspired swan dress and carrying a blue bucket filled with 15 souvenir Oscar replicas.

‘Crushed dreams’

‘I made it myself. It took about five hours,’ said Mr Sediuk. He added that the swan metaphor was particularly apt for the moment, as in Ukraine and Russia the swan is a symbol of ‘crushed dreams’.
Mr Sediuk was let off with a warning, but faces a hearing on 4 March for his Grammys arrest on trespassing charges.

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