guy and Human Events editor-at-large Jason Mattera is " D.C.'s Bad Boy Reporter," and what says "bad boy" more than ambushing U2 frontman Bono for a "gotcha" interview about U2's taxes? Ha ha, except that Mattera actually ambushed a Bono impersonator, which may be why he couldn't really answer questions about U2's taxes:

Via Media Matters:

The video was posted at conservative websites like and Glenn Beck's The Blaze, but was later marked "private" on YouTube and pulled from Why? As explained by The Blaze,"There is widespread discussion on Twitter that the person Mattera interviewed in the videos may have been a Bono impersonator."

In what is likely the vaguest retraction in recent history, added an editor's note saying, "Last night, we removed an article about Bono at the request of the videographer who had provided the links to the videos upon which the article had been based."

No luck finding the videos now, but See above for video! The Blaze has some transcribed excerpts:

Mattera: How do you not have control over that? It's your company. Are you not in charge of your own company?
Bono: It's not my company.
Mattera: You have no say in what U2 does?
Bono: Not particularly.
Mattera: You don't? You don't have a say in what U2 does?
Bono: No.

D.C.'s Bad Boy Reporter's new book, Hollywood Hypocrites, comes out soon.

Update: You can watch the video above. Mattera, via Erik Wemple:

Yes, he says: "I got punked. I thought I got Bono. I didn't. I got his impersonator apparently. Hats off to him. He got me - and how!" writes Mattera in an e-mail that speaks to his sense of accountability. "After scores of interviews with big-time politicians and celebrities, I finally got had. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

And from the impersonator himself, Pavel Sfera:

Sfera says he was "waiting" for Mattera to figure out that he wasn't really Bono. That moment didn't come, and Sfera decided not to help his interlocutor. "I let him go," says Sfera. "I didn't think he was being legitimate and fair."

He added, "I think in the end he was trying to find dirt, and I wasn't there to give it to him. I didn't speak as Bono for Bono with an Irish accent." Sfera says he's a "fan of charitable causes" and admires Bono's work to "assist in extreme situations for humanity."

[Washington Post, Media Matters, The Blaze]