Joe Lycett stages a stunt outside Shell’s HQ in London (Rob Parfitt/Channel 4/PA)
(Picture: PA)Comedian Joe Lycett said “anger” motivated his social media stunt in which he shared a fake version of Sue Gray’s report.
The TV star, who was said to have caused chaos and mass panic after his joke earlier this week, has said it feels “fantastic”.
It comes after he released what he said was a leaked copy of the long-awaited report into Partygate - complete with fake revelations that government staffers had a What’s App group called Down It Street and that cabinet ministers danced on a table while singing the Hear’Say hit Pure and Simple.
BREAKING: Leaked Sue Gray report reveals shocking abuse of the rules. Hard to see how the PM can cling on after this. pic.twitter.com/l0IQMcio0t
— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) January 27, 2022
Writing on Friday, the 33-year-old explained: “I’m angry right now probably for the same reason many other people are angry.
“In the early stages of lockdown in 2020 my best friend died from cancer.
“But he died, at the start of lockdown, and I wasn’t there because I was following the rules, and we had a tiny insufficient funeral, because we were following the rules, and I drove his kids away from that funeral back to Birmingham without any sort of wake, because we were following the rules, and it felt unnatural and cruel and almost silly, but we did it because we followed the rules.
“So I suppose like thousands of others with their own stories, I’m angry about that.”
— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) January 28, 2022
Lycett also published a string of messages from someone he said was a “verified” member of staff for a minister who told him that the spoof had been believed by other members of staff in government.
