This Might Be the Best Interview About Edward Snowden Ever

Snowden, Scissorhands, close enough
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 30, 2015 4:48 PM CDT

In what just might be the best example of trolling ever recorded, Jon Hendren went on HLN Wednesday and gave an interview about Edward Snowden ... except that the whole time, Hendren was talking about Edward Scissorhands. Example: When anchor Yasmin Vossoughian asks Hendren (described as a "Snowden Supporter") what he thinks about Snowden releasing classified information, Hendren replies, "Well, you know, to say that he couldn’t harm somebody with what he did—he could, absolutely, he could. But to cast him out, to make him invalid in society simply because he has scissors for hands—I mean, that’s strange. People didn’t get scared until he started sculpting shrubs into dinosaur shapes and whatnot." Vossoughian carries on unfazed throughout the interview, leading Jezebel's Jia Tolentino to theorize she's "either mid-stroke, 100% not listening, or doing the most professional job in the world."

Salon's Scott Eric Kaufman notes that Hendren's Twitter handle (@fart) should perhaps have clued Vossoughian in that he's a "Twitter comedian." More brilliance: When she asks Hendren what he thinks about Snowden's choice to move to Russia, Hendren responds, "Casting him out is completely wrong. We’re treating him like an animal, somebody who should be quarantined and put away. Just because he was created on top of a mountain by Vincent Price, and incomplete, with scissors for hands and no heart. Edward Scissorhands is a complete hero to me. ... I mean, where else is he going to go? You know? We cast him out. We got scared when he poked a hole in a waterbed with his scissor fingers, and that was unreasonable of us." Hendren himself later weighed in on Twitter: "in all sincerity i really did believe we were talking about Edward Scissorhands." (More viral video stories.)

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