Notorious prankster Simon Brodkin aka Lee Nelson has struck again, this time setting Prime Minister Theresa May in his sights. The hoaxer caused chaos at the Conservative Conference on Wednesday (4 October), when he interrupted the UK Prime minister’s speech to hand her a fake P45. Theresa May during her keynote speech at the Conservative Party Conference at the Manchester Central Convention Complex in Manchester. He passed May the paper as she spoke about free markets, saying: “Boris asked me to give this to you,” he said.
Turning to the foreign secretary sitting in the front row, he added: “Boris, job done.” But this is far from the first time Simon’s antics have hit the headlines, having previously lined-up a series of high-profile targets…
1 Sepp Blatter
Under the guise of character Jason Bent, Simon gate crashed a FIFA press conference and showered outgoing-president Sepp Blatter in dollar bills, after he announced himself as a North Korean World Cup delegate. Simon was heard shouting, “Sepp, this is for North Korea in 2026” before being dragged off stage by security.
2 ‘The X Factor’
Just as Calvin Harris had done before him, Simon invaded the ‘X Factor’ stage during a live show in 2014, joining boyband Stereo Kicks while they performed Michael Jackson’s ‘You Are Not Alone’. He managed to stage of that stage for quite a while, with singer Charlie Jones even appearing to welcome his intrusion, before security bundled him off.
Simon later tweeted: “Stereo Kicks were top lads. Still think they’d be better off with 9. I’d vote for them but Cowell’s got my phone.”
3 Kanye West
The ‘X Factor’ stage wasn’t the only one Simon managed to casually stroll onto though, as he famously interrupted Kanye West’s Pyramid Stage set at Glastonbury in 2015.
As he was swiftly removed after managing to sneak backstage at the festival, Kanye attempted to continue with his rendition of ‘Black Skinhead’, but later halted it and restarted the performance.
Simon later said he did it “for Taylor Swift”, after Kanye famously crashed her speech at the VMAs in 2009.
4 Donald Trump
Simon caused chaos at Donald Trump’s Turnberry ribbon-cutting ceremony last year, when he attempted to hand out golf balls with swastikas on them.
“These are the new balls available from the clubhouse as part of the new Trump Turnberry range. I forgot to hand them out before,” he said.
While secret service initially seemed confused as to whether he was genuine, he was swiftly removed when Trump screamed for them to “get him out”.
5 Philip Green
Simon got one over on former BHS boss Philip Green after it was announced the retailer had gone into administration, following Philip’s decision to sell it for £1 in 2015.
The prankster and a team of helpers renamed the billionaire’s private yacht the ‘BHS Destroyer’, and they stuck a sign over the boat’s real name in 2016.
He later tweeted: “Good of Sir Philip Green to rename his £100 million yacht to something more appropriate. I was glad to help.”
‘Britain’s Got Talent’
Simon starred in his own Channel 4 documentary earlier this year, where he lifted the lid on the months of planning and preparation it takes to pull off a successful stunt.
As part of ‘Britain’s Greatest Hoaxer’, he set his sights on Simon Cowell and ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, posing as an Orthodox Jewish rapper trying out for the judges.
He claimed to have exposed some production secrets, claiming ‘BGT’ producers told him to say and do certain things, and made him change parts of his act.
A spokesperson for the show flatly denied his claims, insisting they had asked him to change his act due to its inappropriate content.
Source: Huffington Post UK
