Following video appeals by Hollywood action star Vin Diesel and comedian Seth Meyers, director David Lynch is the third celebrity to nominate Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Ice Bucket Challenge — so far to no avail.
The cult film director braved the wildly popular ASL charity stint on Tuesday in his own characteristic way — after giving a trumpet version of the classic song "Somewhere over the rainbow," the 68-year-old let himself be splashed twice, one for each time he had been nominated, lacing the first bucket of water with an espresso.
Following the performance, the director of "Twin Peaks" and "Mulholland Drive" named Putin as his sole nominee for the challenge, instead of the usual three nominations.
Neither Meyers or Lynch elaborated on why they chose Putin.
The Russian leader had not responded to the calls as of Wednesday afternoon though he might not be aware of the nominations. An earlier request from action star Vin Diesel led to Putin's spokesman saying the men had been too busy and that he doubted Putin knew he had been nominated.
"We had other things on our agenda," Dmitry Peskov told the Lenta.ru news site at the time.
The Ice Bucket Challenge is an awareness raising campaign for the paralyzing disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which affects thousands of people around the world, most famously physicist Stephen Hawking.
The rules of the campaign require a nominee to either dump cold water on themselves and donate $10 to the anti-ALS effort within 24 hours, or skip the cold bath and donate $100.
Putin is not the only world leader to keep mum on the Ice Bucket Challenge: His U.S. counterpart Barack Obama has also dodged the bucket despite at least two nominations.
So far the only Russian politician to have drenched himself for the cause has been St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, who went all the way by reportedly both donating $100 and splashing himself on camera.
Putin is no stranger to publicity stunts — having flown fighter jets, ridden tricycles with bikers, petted tigers and dived for ancient amphoras in the Black Sea.
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