Political commentator Steven Crowder addressed an academic conference while posing undercover as a 'fat pride activist,' giving a talk about a paper he submitted to organizers called 'Embracing Fatness as Self-Care in the Era of Trump' - a stunt which no one at the event seemed to recognize as a joke. 

Indeed, rather than catch on to the bit, attendees met Crowder's work with praise.

Crowder, who heads the political podcast and YouTube channel Louder With Crowder, posted his 2020 prank 'Crowder infiltrates 'fat Studies' to his YouTube channel on Monday.   

The 17-minute video is a dig at the 'fat acceptance movement' - a social movement that seeks to eliminate the stigma of obesity from social attitudes by highlighting the obstacles faced by fat people. 

To carry out the prank, 34-year-old Crowder posed as the 'independent scholar and fat pride activist' Sea Matheson of Austin, Texas - an identity change complete with full make up, prosthetics and a fake belly so as to appear obese. 

Crowder said he hoped the video would expose the 'farce' of fat studies as a discipline by infiltrating an annual academic conference dedicated to the topic at Massey University in New Zealand, where postgrads can submit their essays on the subject.

As his alter-ego, Crowder submitted a paper titled: 'Embracing Fatness as Self-Care in the Era of Trump' which was accepted - an honor that brought with it an invitation to speak at the conference virtually.