Germany’s Mario Götze wasn’t the only standout star of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final. The attacking midfielder’s volley into the back of the net past Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero at the 113th minute gave Germany a 1 – 0 lead over Argentina and the FIFA World Cup Trophy some seven minutes later. But well before Super Mario and Germany shattered the hopes and dreams of 387 million or so South Americans, Russian American comedian Vitaly Zdorovetskiy (better known on YouTube as VitalyzdTV) had several seconds of fame.
Zdorovetskiy half-streaked onto the field during the second half of the football match with the words “Natural Born Prankster” scrawled across his belly and chest. He blew kisses to the crowd before and after trying to plant one on those kisses on the lips of Germany’s Benedikt Howedes. Evasive tactics extended Zdorovetskiy foray onto the pitch for a few moments, but security soon caught up with the YouTube star (who is currently in possession of more than 6.4 million subscribers) and forcibly removed him from the game.
Another day another prank.. pic.twitter.com/hdkdWNpHk5
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— Vitaly Zdorovetskiy (@Vitalyzdtv) July 14, 2014
ABC used evasive tactics, too. The broadcast network (not wanting to promote these kind of hijinks with television airtime) cut to images of Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer and other filler while Zdorovetskiy had his fun on the field. But fortunately for the attention-seeking prank artist, a platform with almost as much reach as ABC caught some of the incident on camera.
LeBron James was in attendance at the final, captured the tail end of Zdorovetskiy’s run, and uploaded the footage to his Instagram account. The clip currently has 332,000 likes, and counting.
The stunt most likely came as a surprise to the tens of thousands of attendees at Maracana Stadium. Of course, attentive followers of Zdorovetskiy’s Twitter account knew it was coming.
See you guys tomorrow on Tv Germany vs Argentina
— Vitaly Zdorovetskiy (@Vitalyzdtv) July 12, 2014
Congrats to Zdorovetskiy on his run and all the associated press. No doubt the newfound fame will have a positive impact on his upcoming prank movie.
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