Notorious Internet jokester Jon Hendren pulled a fast one on HLN Wednesday when he was called in to ostensibly defend controversial NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
HLN’s The Daily Share was doing a segment on Snowden when Hendren, a “DevOps” leader who goes by the Twitter handle @fart, up and decided to defend another notorious “Edward S.” on the program: Edward Scissorhands, memorably played by Johnny Depp in the 1990 movie of the same name.
Best of all, Daily Share host Yasmin Vossoughian just kept on trucking through the interview, even when it became clear that something wasn’t exactly right.
“Why is Snowden any different from ISIS?” Vossoughian began.
“He’s a hero,” Hendren answered, presumably referring to Snowden. “He’s doing what any one of us should’ve done in that situation. He’s got a voice, he’s been isolated for so long. He’s got valid things to say, we should listen to what he says.”
“Do you think Snowden’s actions were worth that risk [of harming people?]” Vossoughian pressed.
“Well, you know, to say that he couldn’t harm somebody with what he did… he could, absolutely, he could,” says Hendren. “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 what not.”
Vossoughian either didn’t hear what Hendren had said or was simply trying to remain professional: “Now, Snowden’s living in Russia,” she continued without skipping a beat. “Some people say it’s hypocritical that Snowden has asylum in Russia. Russia has a lot of human rights violations.”
“Casting him out is completely wrong. We’re treating him like an animal, somebody who should be quarantined and put away,” Hendren deadpanned. “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.”
“But what about the choice he made to live in a country like Russia?” Vossoughian countered in an exchange becoming increasingly painful (and hilarious) to watch.
“I mean, where else is he going to go you know?” Hendren said. “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 1, HLN 0.
Check out video of the exchange above.