Someone on Ruby Tuesday's earnings call pretended to Bud Fox from 'Wall Street' and asked about Harambe
During Ruby Tuesday's second quarter earnings call, an unidentified caller posed as Bud Fox, Charlie Sheen's character from the movie "Wall Street," and asked CEO JJ Buettgen if the burger chain's business had been impacted by the death of the gorilla Harambe.
Harambe was the gorilla living at the Cincinnati Zoo that was shot and killed after a child fell into its habitat. It has since become a popular meme.
The caller even stated they worked for the Geneva Roth Holding Corporation, a fictional holding company from "Wall Street."
Here's the exchange (via Seeking Alpha's transcript of the call):
Operator: Our next question comes from Buddy Fox with Geneva Roth Holding Corporation.
Buddy Fox: I just have one question. Do you think your revenues are negatively impacted by Harambe's death and if yes, do you have any plans to mitigate it?
JJ Buettgen: Excuse me, can you repeat your question please? Impacted by what?
Buddy Fox: By Harambe's death and if yes, do you have plans to mitigate it?
JJ Buettgen: I am sorry, I don't know we have a bad connection, I couldn't quite hear the question.
Operator: He has lost connection.
These calls are usually pretty dull affairs where sell-side analysts from various banks and financial institutions ask question regarding the company's quarterly results and, occasionally, the macroeconomy.
Typically there is some sort of sign-up procedure to get onto these calls, but apparently they were unable to stop this prankster.
We're not sure if the connection was actually lost or if the caller disconnected after they got their joke in, but either way, it makes for a bizarre exchange.