Yes, that really happened! At the end of the 2022 Game Awards, right after the developers at FromSoftware accepted their Game of the Year award for Elden Ring, a youth emerged from the shadows and nominated ex-President Bill Clinton. Shortly thereafter, host Geoff Keighley announced that the person had been arrested. “Hey Martin, I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone and to say that I would like to nominate my Reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton for this award,” the boy said shortly after Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki finished his acceptance speech. The security forces made their way to the stage before he could finish with a “thank you”.
If you rewatch the end of the Game Awards live stream, you can see the boy stand up and walk straight towards the FromSoftware crew as they come on stage to accept the award. As each of them speaks, they’re seen waiting patiently in the background, wiggling nervously and repeatedly licking their lips in preparation for their fifteen seconds of internet fame.
Keighley chuckled nervously as he returned to the stage to wrap up the ceremony and restore a little semblance of normalcy before the crowd headed off to the after-parties. “Well, an eventful evening,” he said, clearly disturbed by the unplanned spectacle he had just witnessed. But he had the last laugh. According to Keighley, the prankster is now in the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department.