Comedian Joe Lycett has admitted he was behind a Wizard of Oz-themed artwork in Birmingham that was compared to works by Banksy – one of several fake news stories he planted in the media in recent weeks.
The 35-year-old comic says the false Dorothy was one of a number of untrue tales he managed to sneak into several established media outlets in recent weeks.
Speculation about the authorship of the piece – which appeared to mimic Banksy’s style of integrating their artwork into the surrounding environment – even forced the artist’s spokesperson to issue a blunt denial they were responsible.
Lycett revealed his trickery on his new series of Late Night Lycett on Channel 4 on Friday night.
He said he planted the Banksy story, as well as three other fake new stories, to take up space in the media that would otherwise have been used to ‘spread hate, misery and pictures of Amanda Holden’.
Comedian Joe Lycett has admitted he was behind of several fake news stories he planted in the media in recent weeks
The 35-year-old comic says the false Banksy-looking Dorothy artwork was one of a number of untrue tales he managed to sneak into several established media outlets in recent weeks
Speculation about the authorship of the piece – which appeared to mimic Banksy’s style of integrating their artwork into the surrounding environment – even forced the artist’s spokesperson to issue a blunt denial they were responsible
His other fake stories were a five-a-side footballer from Birmingham having a bruise on his thigh that resembled Prince Harry’s face, research showing that men from Birmingham have the longest penises in the UK and an eight-foot-tall statue of H from Steps being erected in his hometown of Cowbridge in Wales.
Media organisations that fell for one of the pranks include BBC News, The Sun, The Daily Star, ITV News, Sky News and the Independent.
covered the story about the five-a-side football bruise which bore an uncanny resemblance to Prince Harry’s face on March 19.
Some of the suspected hoaxes, like the woman who thought she rescued a hedgehog that turned out to be a hat bobble and the North Korean row over Alan Titchmarsh’s trousers, turned out to be real.
Lycett said the story about Ian ‘H’ Watkins from Steps had been ‘covered everywhere… they even discussed it on BBC Breakfast’.
Speaking to BBC Wales straight after the show, Watkins said: ‘I’m great friends with Joe and he had this idea that he wanted to create fun fake news to deflect away from all of the bad fake news – and it worked!
Ian ‘H’ Watkins from Steps promoted the hoax story on his Instagram page
was fooled by the story of a bruise which looked like Prince Harry’s face
It was claimed the bruise was caused by a collision af five-a-side football
Lycett revealed his trickery on his new series of Late Night Lycett on Channel 4 on Friday night (pictured)
The comedian is well-known for spreading mischief and has publicised several pranks over the years
Joe Lycett shredded £10,000 in a wood-chipper to protest against David Beckham’s £10million controversial ambassadorial role at the 2022 men’s World Cup, held in the homophobic country of Qatar, though the money was later revealed to be fake
‘And a lot of these stories have gone unnoticed – this one did for a long time.’
‘I love that Joe has put this on a national platform, when there is so much hatred and we can shine a little light on some joy and something funny,’ he said.
‘It was the most ridiculous but people bought it, I had to text my mother and go mum just to let you know this is gonna happen, and she said “I will say nothing”.’
Watkins said the hoax had deflected from a lot of negative news in the media, and ‘shone a spotlight on people who sit behind keyboards and they whinge and they whine and they don’t contribute’.
Lycett then proceeded to reveal that he was behind the fabricated story that ‘Brummies have the biggest penises’ after The Daily Star reported: ‘A new yearly study by Myriad Researching for Spartan Layers, a top men’s underwear brand, found that blokes in Birmingham have the biggest average manhoods in the UK.’
The comedian, from Birmingham, is known for his stunts and pranks.
Last year, the comedian teased the public with a stunt to launch his fake podcast, Turdcast, in which a giant inflatable toilet he dubbed ‘the Turdis’ accidentally ‘leaked’ fake sewage into Liverpool Docks.
The spillage was later revealed to be marine mud, which had no environmental or biological impact on the habitat.
In 2020, he changed his name to Hugo Boss in protest at the massive German fashion brand sending cease-and-desist letters to some small businesses and charities who used ‘boss’ in their names.
He also shredded £10,000 in a wood-chipper to protest against David Beckham’s controversial ambassadorial role at the 2022 men’s World Cup, held in the homophobic country of Qatar, though the money was later revealed to be fake.