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Russian Instagram Users Unleash 'Cyberattack' on Stallone, Schwarzenegger

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger Gage Skidmore / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

With the Russian ink barely dry on Lady Gaga’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s comments sections, Russian-speaking Instagram users are setting their sights on newer — and brawnier — targets.

A popular comic issued a challenge this week to “have a go at” action star Sylvester Stallone, who had just released the trailer for the sequel to his classic film “Rambo.” 

“New game: ‘Russian Cyberattack’,” Garik Kharlamov wrote to his 6.1 million followers on Tuesday, directing them to go to Stallone's Instagram page and leave as many Russian comments as possible on the trailer.

Russian users did not disappoint: Cyrillic letters dominated the more than 12,000 comments on Sly’s trailer, firmly parking themselves on his page in the past 24 hours. 

Some referenced the rumors that U.S. actor Bradley Cooper had left Russian model Irina Shayk for Lady Gaga that sparked last month’s Russian Instagram takeover. Others simply carried over the odd recipe-writing tradition which originated in the U.S. pop star’s comments section.

“Did I miss something? Did Stallone hook up with Cooper now?” wrote one user. Another quipped: “Did Sly steal someone from Irina Shayk too?”

Most simply did what Kharlamov asked them to do and wrote “I need your clothes and motorcycle,” intentionally repurposing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s words from the “Terminator” franchise.

In a later post, Kharlamov tasked his followers to move to Arnie’s own Instagram page and write: “Remember who you are, Simba.”

“Resistance is futile,” one Russian user told the Austrian action star, echoing Darth Vader before launching into a truly dadaist mashup of references. “So let Chris Tucker know that ‘Rush Hour’ is upon him, Bruce Willis that a Russian Squirrel is after his ‘Die Hards’ and Steven Seagal that they’ll find him and his Russian passport and get a mortgage.” 

And as for the reason why Kharlamov ordered the “Russian Cyberattack”? The comedian himself said he hasn’t come up with one yet. 

Sometimes, you don’t need a reason to do odd things on the internet.

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