Protests of corporations over environmental issues can be preachy and a bit sad, but every so often they are perfect and genius in every way. This is one of them. As Volkswagen continues to struggle with fixing its cheating diesel cars, a protester—believed to be a comedian who’s done stuff like this before—got the better of one executive at the Geneva Motor Show.
During the Volkswagen press conference, a man dressed as a VW mechanic got on stage to “fix” one of the company’s offerings, prompting the automaker’s sales chief to reply in the most Germanic way possible.
“Excuse me, I have the new cheat box,” the protestor, dressed in a set of Volkswagen mechanics’ coveralls began and draped in the fineries of a Yes Men performance said, before going to tinker under the car. “No one’s going to find out about this one, I’m just going to fit it now.”
“IT DOES NOT NEED REPAIRS IT IS A PERFECT CAR,” Juergen Stackmann told the protestor, in what was a brilliant Abbott and Costello performance that I am not entirely convinced was unintentional.
Volkswagen, as we all know by now, broke the law and intentionally rigged its diesel-fueled cars to cheat on emissions tests. The cheating vehicles spewed out noxious pollutants at nearly forty times the legal limit.
“VW has apologized for the scandal and has vowed to fix the cars,” Stackmann continued to tell the crowd in German, as the protestor was escorted off the stage.
The protester is believed to be British comedian Simon Brodkin, who last year showered disgraced FIFA exec Sepp Blatter with cash at another press conference. Good shtick.
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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