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You are here: Home / Politics / Even Better Than the Real Thing

Even Better Than the Real Thing

by | 131 Comments

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God, I hope this is true. Balloon Juice commenter Dave:

Sweet baby Jesus, you can’t make this stuff up.

Jason Mattera, on behalf of the Breitbart Babies, ambushes Bono of U2 to grill him on why he hides his taxes. Except Mattera interviewed a Bono impersonator instead.

Hahahaha! Hopefully someone saved the videos. Beck’s House o’ Crazy pulled the story, and it’s 404 at Breitbart.com.

UPDATE: Video after the jump…

[X-posted at Rumproast]

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  3. 3.

    Yutsano

    Jason Mattera, on behalf of the Breitbart Babies, ambushes Bono of U2 to grill him on why he hides his taxes.

    Last time I checked, Bono is still an Irish citizen. Why this is some expose that had any relevance to American politics is beyond my ken.

  5. 5.

    New Yorker

    @Mark S.: FTW

    So is this better in the hilarity department than the wingnut blogger who got Bill Ayers to admit that he wrote “Dreams of My Father”.

    Also, I’m waiting for the Breitbart scoop on the fact that Elvis is indeed still alive in Las Vegas.

  6. 6.

    Warmongerer

    I’m missing the original angle here.

    Bono’s an Irish citizen. Are they upset that he’s not paying more taxes here or something?

  9. 9.

    Democratic Nihilist, Keeper Of Party Purity

    Last time I checked, Bono is still an Irish citizen. Why this is some expose that had any relevance to American politics is beyond my ken.

    @Yutsano: Cause he’s a DUMBOCRAT LIEBURUL hur hur hur hur why don’t you run him for president he’s not a citizen either

    Sorry, spent too much time wading through that comment section.

  11. 11.

    Amir Khalid

    @Yutsano:
    Well, the American right do have precedent for this. Remember when they brought Stephen Hawking’s long-term illness into the healthcare reform argument? That didn’t work out so great for them either.

  12. 12.

    Tickraw

    I’m reminded of a scene from O Brother whenever I read these stories on the Breitbart lackeys:

    Pappy O’Daniel: These boys is gonna be my brain trust.
    Delmar O’Donnell: What’s that mean, Everett?

  14. 14.

    Dave

    Since Breitbart.com & Mattera are trying to memoryhole this thing, it’s tough to see what happened. This site has some quotes from the original article.

    In an exclusive interview with Big Hollywood, Mattera said he was stunned by Bono’s responses to his questions: “I’ve always liked U2, so when I began researching my chapter in “Hollywood Hypocrites” about Bono, I was surprised to find what a tax-dodging hypocrite the guy is. Still, I wanted to give the guy a chance to tell his side of the story. But when Bono told me he has “no control” over what U2 does and said it’s not hypocritical to ask everyday Americans to pay more in taxes for foreign aid and debt relief while he and U2 perform financial gymnastics to pay less in taxes, I was stunned.”

  17. 17.

    Democratic Nihilist, Keeper Of Party Purity

    Hey, I saw Spider-Man, The Musical. That fucking douche and his guitarist owe me some money and two hours of my life back.

  21. 21.

    Guster

    You are the winner, Steve M. I love how the guy keeps saying, “I didn’t do that. It’s not my company.”

  27. 27.

    Lee

    If you watch the video Steve M so helpfully provided. You see it is specific to Ireland. Still not sure why an American would be concerned about that.

    And it is completely obvious that the person is NOT Bono.

  29. 29.

    Catsy

    Holy shitbiscuits, that’s some quality fail.

    The video at EBW works, much as I hate to give traffic to those assholes. I love how the impersonator strings him along as long as possible while not lying at all–literally no, he doesn’t have any control over any of that. :D

    I give him props for not cracking up.

  35. 35.

    Villago Delenda Est

    It’s a darn good thing that idiocy is not a capital crime in this country, or these fucktards would be before a death panel faster than you can say Captain Jack Sparrow.

  36. 36.

    ShadeTail

    @Steve M.:

    Love how the one commenter at the link to point out how it obviously wasn’t Bono got some down-votes. These assholes are totally delusional.

  38. 38.

    trex

    If you dare exit the boat go read the comments on this story over at the The Blaze. Aside from all the self-congratulatory remarks about “globalist swine” and “communism,” 99% of those Bozos fail to recognize the obvious impersonator.

  40. 40.

    samara morgan

    @trex: i bet Bono will make a public declaration about the failed video sting. the guy is not exactly shy.

  42. 42.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Well, ya cain’t expect me to tell the difference! Them Irish folk all look the same!

    -Wingnut

  46. 46.

    beltane

    Just wait until they go after all the Ben Franklin and Abraham Lincoln impersonators. There are a lot of unanswered questions swirling around those two.

  49. 49.

    Morbo

    Isn’t it hypocritical for people who believe taxation is theft to criticize people who make an effort to keep more of their hard-earned money?

  50. 50.

    Mark S.

    I’m dying to know where this took place. Did Mattera crash some bar mitzvah thinking the real Bono was going to be performing?

  55. 55.

    danielx

    I can hear the comments now: “Well, U2 makes so much money here they OUGHT to be paying American taxes whether they’re American citizens or not!”

    Logically, since paying fewer/less taxes is one of wingnutteria’s Holy Grails, Mattera ought be congratulating the supposed Bono for his ingenuity in tax avoidance rather than jumping in his shit. But hey, when did logic ever enter into Breitbart World?

  57. 57.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @danielx:

    But hey, when did logic ever enter into Breitbart World?

    Pretty much the same time that Monty Burns made a donation to the Springfield orphanage.

  62. 62.

    Epicurus

    Jason Effing Mattera “punked”?? The ironing is delicous….hahahahahaha. (Apologies to Nelson Muntz.)

  63. 63.

    trex

    @samara

    I’m of the opinion that you don’t even acknowledge the existence of whiny dickweasels like Mattera because attention is the only thing they got. Without attention they’re just the angry Young Republican kid down the street who’s desperate because he can’t get laid. But if he does choose to acknowledge this story, Bono ought to say something to the effect of, “I’ve scraped more interesting things off my shoe.”

    Not only does it put this pathetic Breitbrat effort in its proper context, it has the added benefit of being true.

  65. 65.

    Joe Max

    Notice how the impersonator answered every question truthfully: “I didn’t do that.” “I have no control over that.”

  66. 66.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Emma:

    If this is true, it’s proof that God exists and She loves me.

    I am (or I guess was) an atheist, but evidence is evidence. I’ll start going to church this weekend.

  70. 70.

    different-church-lady

    @slippy: Maybe Breitbart’s body was just a host for some Twin Peaks’ Bob version of free floating stupidity.

  74. 74.

    trex

    @different-church-lady

    No, no, not punked: SELF-punked!

    Yes, I believe this is what is referred to in the technical manuals as “a Second Order Fail.”

  77. 77.

    danimal

    I’m a big U2 fan, but not much of a fan of their tax avoidance scheme that took their business to Holland. But I don’t see why conservatives think that is a big deal.

    FWIW, U2 only seems liberal in America because American conservatives are incredibly stupid, heartless and partisan these days. Their politics are not quite so easily defined from an international perspective.

    Can we say that Breitbart’s minion still hasn’t found what he’s looking for?

  78. 78.

    norbizness

    For some reason, I am unable to care what completely marginal reactionary assclowns do in order to embarrass themselves. Is there something wrong with me?

  82. 82.

    Foobar

    Jason should interview Mitt Romney about his Cayman Islands accounts. He could use the same list of questions.

  84. 84.

    ruemara

    HI-larious. I don’t even need to see the video, because I can tell from the starting frame that it isn’t Bono. How fucking derp can you be? Oh, wait, it’s a Breitbrat. Never mind, that shit is infinite.

  87. 87.

    joeyess

    I can’t wait for Tbogg to get a hold of this one. He loves the juicy, low-hanging fruit that is Jason Mattera

  88. 88.

    NCSteve

    Shame on you, Betty Cracker. Shame! This person is calling himself Bono and is wearing glasses like Bono and sounds a little bit like Bono. So saying this isn’t an interview with Bono is clearly a lie. Indeed, I Declare it Lie of the Year and give it four pinnochios and a pants on fire on the lieometer, five finger wags and a whole page of tsk-tsks and tut tuts. Shame! Oh shame!

  90. 90.

    Mino

    Jeb! Bush just endorsed Romney, supposedly because he figgured they wouldn’t get anyone better at this late date.

  91. 91.

    chopper

    i love how this choad is all talking about how he’s such a big fan of U2 but then he clearly can’t tell that he’s talking to a guy who totes isn’t bono.

    yeah, big fan.

  92. 92.

    Nemesis

    The Ireland connection?

    Ireland is bankrupt. Its the fault of the soshulist euro-nanny state. All workers should suffer by paying higher taxes for less in return from services. U2 have shirked their responsibility as Irish citizens by not paying their fair share of taxes. Hence, Bono is ebul.

    Bono is a rock star, which means he is leftist. Case closed.

    Why cant you people see the obvious connections? Like Soros and reeducation camps.

  93. 93.

    Auldblackjack

    Ireland has become a tax haven for multi-national corporations with it’s 12.5% corporate tax rate. Why would Bono & the boyos support a government with those kind of tax rates. Surely all the wingnuts ‘smart’ enough to figure out that their insurance rates and tax payments are ‘unfairly inflated when they are ‘forced to pay for the birth control of sluts’ would know that U2’s taxes would be going almost directly into some multi-natonal’s CEO’s back pocket if they continued to operate the business out of Dublin?

  94. 94.

    Dave

    I hope Jason takes this hard-hitting journalism to Hollywood Boulevard in LA. That place is teeming with celebrities just waiting to be interviewed.

  95. 95.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    Jason Mattera still hasn’t found who he’s looking for.

    Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

  96. 96.

    handy

    Not-so-Breitbarts want to nail down sanctimonious, narcissistic rockstar as a hypocrite. /Golfclap

  104. 104.

    rea

    The funny thing about that video–the impersonator, as far as I can see, never says he’s Bono. Asked about U2’s finances, he quite appropriately repeatedly says things like, “I don’t know about that . . . I don’t control that . . . it’s not my copmpany.” He’s telling the complete truth . . .

  105. 105.

    Bubblegum Tate

    HAHAHAHAHAHA! Jason Mattera can’t even rise to the level of James O’Keefe. Which is like not being able to rise to the level of the ocean floor.

  107. 107.

    stratplayer

    Wow! How many consecutive embarrassing fails is it for the Breitbrats now? Breitbart‘s new set of moldering mates must be calling him Ol’ Pinwheel Andy by now.

  109. 109.

    GregB

    This was planned at the highest levels. It is obvious this was a ratfucking operation run out of Chicagoland and the Rahmbo and Bill Ayers were behind this cruel attack on a brave young culture warrior like Mattera.

    I think Mattera deserves a purple heart bandage for the flack he’s taken in this vile Obama hit.

    These things don’t just happen. Look at what they did to Dear El Rushbo?

    Coincidence? I think not.

  110. 110.

    Afferent Input

    From the Blaze link:

    Mattera has been referred to as “DC’s Bad Boy Reporter,” and criticized in some quarters for his tactics.

    Let me fix that:

    Mattera has been referred to as “DC’s Bad Boy Reporter,” and criticized in some quarters for his tactics. Some of those tactics include trying to pass off interviews with impersonators as breaking news.

    BEHAVE YOURSELF, MATTERA!!! STOP RAPING PEOPLE!!!

  113. 113.

    Dave

    I love how the Bono impersonator keeps a straight face through all of this and just says “I didn’t do that,” and “I don’t have any control over that.” Of course he doesn’t–he’s not Bono!

  116. 116.

    dj spellchecka

    the comment thread at ebaum is funny too…every time someone points out that it’s not bono they get voted thumbs down

  117. 117.

    Annapolitan

    Jason should have looked at the autograph. It was signed “I’m an impersonator, Douchebag!”

    Does anybody ask for autographs these days? Especially the media?

  119. 119.

    PaulW

    There are Bono Impersonators? I mean, yeah for Elvis and Cher and maybe a few others, but Bono?! There’s money in that sort of thing?

  120. 120.

    philpm

    @Auldblackjack: See, all those children they talk about in the blurb at the end are the kids of those billionaires who’ve set up shop in Ireland who, without Bono’s tax money, won’t be able to afford their next jar of caviar and the spring break trip to St. Tropez.

  121. 121.

    Jess

    But what does it say about Bono that JM THOUGHT this was Bono? Huh? Huh? Try to spin THAT away, LIEberals!

  122. 122.

    Argive

    Charles Johnson points out that not only did Mattera screw up royally in this case, but the Breitbart people still haven’t fixed the millions of dead links resulting from their recent website re-design. Ah, schadenfreude.

  125. 125.

    Patricia Kayden

    The video is so funny! Just got to watch it (was at work when I first saw the post).

    Thanks Brightfart for the posthumous laughs.

  126. 126.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    Oh God – The Blaze still has the transcript for the interview. With the one little piece of knowledge that this is NOT Bono, it’s fucking hilarious.

    —-
    Mattera: By dodging taxes on royalties are you raiding the poverty programs you purport to champion?

    NOT Bono: No.

    Mattera: No? Don’t you want governments to be generous with other people’s money and not yours?

    NOT Bono: I don’t have control over that…

    Mattera: How do you not have control over that? It’s your company. Are you not in charge of your own company?

    NOT Bono: It’s not my company.

    Mattera: You have no say in what U2 does?

    NOT Bono: Not particularly.

    Mattera: You don’t? You don’t have a say in what U2 does?

    NOT Bono: No.

    Mattera: You’re the front man of your band, which has made you hundreds of millions of dollars … you have no idea why it moved from Ireland to Holland?

    NOT Bono: I don’t have that answer.

    Mattera: It wasn’t take advantage of a much lower tax rate?

    NOT Bono: I don’t have that answer.

    Mattera: You are seriously going to say that you don’t have that answer?

    NOT Bono: I don’t have that answer.
    —-

  127. 127.

    Mister Papercut

    @Quaker in a Basement:

    Wait! We haven’t done a forensic analysis of the audio kerning yet!

    I heard that if you pull this fake Bono into Illustrator you’ll see he’s an obvious forgery made up of layers.

  128. 128.

    Polar Bear Squares

    I’m tall and black with a receding hairline. Do you think if I followed Jason around enough he’d think I was Eric Holder?

  129. 129.

    danimal

    I didn’t think I would get more laughs off of this story until I saw this Kaplan interview of the Bono impersonator.

    After looking at some of Mattera’s work, Sfera noted, “He’s like those guys that did that whole ACORN thing.”

    Breitbart’s legacy! lol

  130. 130.

    lou

    Guess the morons also didn’t get the memo that Bono is considered one of their good guys. He prayed with Jesse Helms!

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