Tucker Carlson pranked by YouTuber pretending to be Kate Middleton whistleblower
Tucker Carlson has been well and truly pranked, and the internet is here for it. YouTubers Josh Pieters and Archie Manners, known for their tendency to publicly embarrass a conservative or two and for crashing a Just Stop Oil banquet, picked the right-wing political commentator as their latest victim and delivered an impressively well-thought-out prank—one that involved Carlson believing that he was interviewing a Kensington Palace whistleblower.
In the video, Manners posed as a digital content creator for the Prince and Princess of Wales and claimed to have been fired for his poor editing of the iconic Mother’s Day image. For anyone who didn’t see the image, it pictured Middleton surrounded by her three children. Many believed that the Palace had shared the photo in order to try and dispel rumours regarding the Princess’ absence from public life over the past weeks.
However, the image only served to further fuel conspiracy theories as several major photo agencies pulled the picture from circulation over concerns that it had been in some way “manipulated.” This was of course then followed by a ridiculous statement from Middleton’s team suggesting that the Princess had simply edited the image herself.
Naturally, this entire saga has been plastered all over the internet so it would make sense that Carlson would be eager to grab an exclusive for his own show. As seen in the video, in an email to the presenter’s team, Manners pretended to be someone called George, saying he was being “let go” for the editing disaster and knew he was “about to be scapegoated.” Moreover, the pair also forged Kensington Palace employment documents, including a clause that stated the palace had a right to amputate one of Manners’ limbs if he failed his probation period. Somehow, Carlson’s team missed that particular section.
At the very beginning of the interview, Carlson goes out of his way to emphasise the fact that Manners could in no way be a fake and that they’ve verified his background. Later on, the commentator notes that “it is an amazing story.”
While a lot of us would’ve probably loved to have seen Carlson be humiliated in real time, Manners and Pieters decided to upload the prank video days before the interview was due to air. When speaking with Deadline about the decision, the pair noted that they didn’t want to contribute to any disinformation shown to Carlson’s 12.6 million followers on X: “We didn’t want to cause any more rumours, that are not true, to go out to lots and lots of people.”
Interestingly, some people have wondered if YouTube might be suppressing the video somehow as it only has 72,000 views—a much lower number than the creators’ other prank videos. For example, when the pair infiltrated Just Stop Oil and disrupted one of the group’s dinner parties, the video reached an astonishing 2.5 million views.
Similarly, when they flew far-right media personality Katie Hopkins to Prague to receive a fake award, the video reached over 8 million views:
Neither Carlson nor his team has made a statement regarding the prank. Poor Tucker.
