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In a stunning display of gullibility, Tucker Carlson, the controversial former Fox News anchor, has fallen victim to an elaborate prank orchestrated by British YouTubers Josh & Archie. The duo successfully duped Carlson into interviewing a fake whistleblower claiming to have insider knowledge about the infamous edited photo of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales. The incident has left Carlson red-faced and raised questions about the journalistic integrity of his new venture, the Tucker Carlson Network, which streams on Twitter (now known as X). The prank revolved around the Mother's Day image of Kate Middleton, which had been poorly doctored and subsequently caught the attention of the public. Archie Manners, one half of the YouTube duo, posed as a former digital content creator for the Prince and Princess of Wales, claiming to have been fired for his shoddy editing work on the photo. To lend credibility to their ruse, Manners and his co-conspirator, Josh Pieters, went to great lengths to forge Kensington Palace employment documents, which they presented to Carlson's team as proof of Manners' supposed former position. Shockingly, Carlson's staff failed to spot the absurdity of the faked documents, which included a clause stating that the palace had the right to amputate one of Manners' limbs should he fail his probation period. This outrageous detail should have immediately raised red flags, but instead, Carlson's team accepted the story at face value and arranged for Manners to be interviewed by Carlson via a hotline from a London studio. The YouTubers' video captures the moment when Carlson introduces his guest, stating, "We've done our best to verify that your identity is what you say it is. You're not a fake [Alexei] Navalny or doing a prank." The irony of this statement is not lost on viewers, as Carlson himself has fallen victim to the very prank he sought to avoid. Manners, fully in character, proceeded to spin a tale about the editing job being "almost too big to do" and claimed that the photo had originally featured a Christmas tree in the background, which he had to remove. Carlson, seemingly enthralled by the fabricated story, can be heard saying, "It is an amazing story." After the interview, he even complimented Manners, telling him, "That was great." Carlson's staff later informed Manners that they planned to stream the exchange "early next week," further highlighting their complete lack of due diligence in verifying the authenticity of the claims. However, Manners and Pieters had a change of heart and decided to blow their cover before the interview could be aired to Carlson's 12.6 million followers on X. In an interview with Deadline, Manners explained their decision, stating, "We didn't want to cause any more rumors, that are not true, to go out to lots and lots of people. We just didn't want to be too worthy about that in our video." The YouTubers recognized the potential harm that spreading disinformation could cause and
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