Comedian Joe Lycett reveals the 'anger' behind his Sue Gray stunt which fooled ministers

Comedian Joe Lycett has spoken out about the "anger" that motivated him to share a fake version of Sue Gray’s report on social media that he has also claimed fooled government staff.

Writing on Twitter, he explained the response he got after he posted a viral spoof version of the report, stating that he originally made it because he was angry as he experienced a loss in lockdown while MPs were allegedly breaking rules.

He wrote: "I write comedy sometimes as a way of using anger.

"I’m angry right now for probably the same reason many other people are angry.

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"In the early stages of lockdown in 2020 my best friend died from cancer.

Lycett explained that his friend supported him through his comedy career and when he died he was unable to see him because he was following the lockdown rules.

"He had been ill for a number of years and towards the end I had helped as a part-time carer," he wrote. "I watched him slip away, gradually, over months, and all that comes with it.

"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."

He added he sees the current government as being about "power and little else".

"You might wonder how it feels to have been described in the papers as having caused these people ‘chaos’ and ‘mayhem’ and ‘mass panic’ because of a few jokes.

"Let me be clear: it feels absolutely f**king fantastic."

Yesterday, the comedian shared a satirical version of the senior civil servant’s much awaited inquiry into alleged lockdown breaking parties in Downing Street.

He then claimed he had received messages from someone working for the government, showing the impact it had supposedly had on people who believed it was real.

As well as that particular instance of mischief, he posted spoof praise to Boris Johnson only for culture secretary Nadine Dorries to retweet it then delete her retweet.

Not bad for a day's work.

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