Russian ambassador tweets photo of 'terrorist' that's actually from a Harold & Kumar movie

The photo Alexander Yakovenko tweeted on Wednesday.
(Image credit: Twitter.com/Amb_Yakovenko)

While trying to get a dig in at the United States, Russia's ambassador to Britain inadvertently admitted on Twitter Wednesday that he has never seen the 2008 classic Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, tweeting a photo that was supposed to show a "terrorist rejoicing" but was actually from a scene in the movie.

Kal Penn, who played Kumar Patel in the movie (and once worked in the White House), quickly pointed out Alexander Yakovenko's mistake. That's Penn in the photo, clad in a fake beard, wig, and turban while joking about being a terrorist on a plane. (Why else do you think Harold and Kumar wound up in Guantanamo Bay?)

The Russian embassy in London responded with both an explanation of Yakovenko's tweet and an insult/compliment for Penn:

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However, by tweeting this photo of Rocky IV's Soviet boxer Ivan Drago (as portrayed by Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren), Penn got the last laugh:

As The Washington Post points out, when you Google "terrorist laughing," the image of Penn in the movie is high up in the results. That's likely why Yakovenko used the photo — although it still doesn't explain how he managed to make it to 2015 without seeing Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.