Howard X

Howard X
Howard X in character as Kim Jong Un
Nationality	Australian
Occupation(s)	Impersonator of Kim Jong-Un Music producer
Years active	2011–present
Website	https://www.supremeleader.me/ [dead link]

Howard Lee, known professionally as Howard X, is a Hong Kong-born Australian music producer, political satirist and media personality. He is best known as the world's first professional impersonator of Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea.^[1][2][3]

Amongst Howard X's most well-known pranks are his appearance at the Rio Summer Olympics in 2016 and when he visited North Korean cheerleaders on Valentine's Day at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018 which attracted media attention. Throughout his career as a professional impersonator he has also worked with multiple organisations and celebrities to create parodies and to stir up conversations of politics and human rights. He believes that humour is a very powerful weapon and he often makes it clear that he imitates the dictator to satirise him, not to glorify him.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]}

He is well known for using satire to show his support for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement and for the liberation of North Korea. He also used his prominence to assist persecuted impersonators and drew attention to humanitarian issues around the world with them. His resemblance to Kim Jong Un has seen him detained or deported due to political concerns. He is often interviewed by the press and hired for commercials due to his activism and work as an impersonator. In 2021, it was reported that he was raided and arrested at his home by the Hong Kong government, sparking concerns that he was targeted by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

In early November 2022, he announced that he would contest Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' electorate of Mulgrave as an independent candidate at the Victorian state election under the name 'Howard Lee'.^[15] He came second-last out of 14 candidates, attracting 0.3% of the vote.