Kevin from ‘The Office’ Was Part of the Plot to Overthrow the President of Moldova

We generally don’t expect sitcom cast members to be involved in global political controversies, hence why stories about the Cuban Missile Crisis featured zero references to Rob and Laura Petrie from The Dick Van Dyke Show. But earlier this year, it was reported that an alleged Russian disinformation campaign targeting the former Soviet republic of Moldova enlisted the help of Dunder Mifflin’s resident accountant/chili handler Kevin Malone, aka actor Brian Baumgartner. 

This week, Moldova held a national referendum and ultimately voted to pursue membership in the European Union. The “Yes” vote passed by “the slimmest of margins” — just 50.39 percent. Meanwhile, Moldova’s President Maia Sandu won the first round in the presidential election, but didn’t meet the “50 percent margin needed to avoid a runoff.” The “pro-Western” leader blamed the poor numbers on “unprecedented assault on our country’s freedom and democracy” by “foreign forces.” And at least part of that assault included the same guy who ruined Jim and Pam’s Puerto Rican honeymoon.

In addition to a vote-buying scheme, there have been reports of a massive disinformation campaign targeting Sandu and the push to join the EU allegedly funded by the Kremlin. As Wired reported, this strategy included a video of Baumgartner reading out a message, in “bad Russian,” proclaiming that “We, Hollywood stars, support the people of Moldova in their desire to overthrow you, Sandu.”

The video was commissioned on Cameo, the service that provides bespoke greetings from non-A-list celebrities. And Baumgartner wasn’t alone in cheerfully calling for the Moldovan president to be overthrown; Dolph Lundgren, Lindsay Lohan, Eric Roberts and Xzibit did so as well. The videos were all stitched together and circulated on TikTok. 

Clearly they were tricked into parroting a political message they didn’t fully understand, but it’s still somehow less embarrassing than that goddamn “Imagine” video. 

Judging from their tones, the stars likely assumed that they were recording a special message, for a birthday or something, for someone named “Sandu” — someone who’s not the current president of a country containing more than three million people running for re-election.

You’d think that celebrities would, I don’t know, take just 10 seconds to run a quick Google Translate on any foreign language phrases they plan on reading out on camera. Or maybe have an employee vet these requests? It’s not like Baumgartner couldn’t hire someone to help him out with this endeavor. He charges $195 per video, and reportedly made more than $1 million on Cameo in 2020, back when everybody was stuck inside and had only the cast of The Office for company. 

Of course, being tricked into becoming an unwitting political puppet does seem pretty on brand for the Kevin character, so it’s entirely possible that this scandal will only increase his popularity on the app.

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter (if it still exists by the time you’re reading this).