A Russian repairman has been detained for showing up at a local school wearing a mask that police said looked like the “Joker.”
The 33-year-old explained to police in the republic of Dagestan that he appeared at the school in the mask, carrying an ax and a hammer, because he needed them for work.
The repairman had dropped in on his way to work to ask the school to turn down its music because it was making his child cry, he said in an interrogation. He apparently didn’t consider whether his mask might have been making his child cry as well.
“Have you seen any movie about the Joker, do you know the Joker at all?” asked a police officer in a video shared by the Dagestani branch of Russia’s Interior Ministry on Thursday.
The repairman’s response: “I’m not his fan and I don’t even know what he looks like.”
“I only play football on PlayStation,” the man told police.
Some social media users came to his defense, while others speculated that the interrogation was hidden advertising for Joaquin Phoenix’s box-office hit.
Police said it would determine its next steps after an inspection.
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