YESTERDAY, EDWARD SNOWDEN participated in a Reddit AMA.
The NSA whistleblower was quizzed on a variety of issues, including his new life in Moscow and protection for whistleblowers. But he was also asked about a one-liner made at his expense by Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris.
Allow us to explain.
During Sunday night’s ceremony, Citizenfour won the Oscar for Best Documentary. The documentary details the meetings between filmmaker Laura Poitras, journalist Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden back in 2012.
After director Laura Poitras accepted the award, Neil Patrick Harris quipped:
Edward Snowden couldn’t be here for some treason.
It didn’t go down well with everyone.
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And so, some brave soul decided to ask Edward Snowden what he thought of the joke.
Spoiler alert: he didn’t mind.
TL;DR – he laughed!
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who notably broke the NSA story back in 2012, was also participating in the AMA and clarified his thoughts on the joke.
He went on to note that Buzzfeed then highlighted his comment in the headline, giving the impression that he was a “humourless scold”.
In fact, I was laughing about it the whole time when I said it, as the reporter noted.
Elsewhere in the AMA, Edward Snowden revealed himself to be somewhat of a messer with a penchant for saying “lol”.
He also called out Glenn Greenwald for ruining a very amusing pun.
