Lee Hurst has ‘no regrets’ after being suspended from Twitter over vile Greta Thunberg joke

Comedian Lee Hurst has dismissed criticism of a tasteless joke he made at the expense of Greta Thunberg.

The former They Think It’s All Over panellist mocked the teenage climate activist in a crude tweet posted on Friday.

He wrote: “As soon as Greta discovers c***, she’ll stop complaining about the single use plastic it’s wrapped in.”

Twitter users, who were unimpressed with the lewd gag, reported the post, prompting Hurst’s brief suspension from the social media platform.

Hurst’s tweet has not been removed from the platform

However, rather than apologise for going a step too far, the stand-up comic said he had “no regrets” over the incident.

Read more:

• Billionaire’ Kylie Jenner sparks fury by asking fans to pay for stylist’s surgery
• Uber passenger who coughed on driver faces up to 16 years in jail
• People are hijacking the Joe Biden fall hashtag to make an important point

During his temporary Twitter ban, Hurst told the Daily Star he’d appealed the platform’s decision.

“If I’m binned permanently then I suppose I’m glad I was binned for writing a gag rather than for having a rant,” he told the paper.

Hurst added: “No regrets. It got laughs.”

By Saturday morning he was back online, this time hitting out at his critics.

“You go off Twitter for the rest of the day, come back the following morning and find all of the usual suspects have taken offence,” he tweeted.

Continuing the tirade on Monday, he commented on an article referring to his Twitter ban: “What ban? Keep up.

“I am sorry. I’m sorry there are so many po faced, humourless losers who have all, at some point in their dreary lives, told a joke that someone somewhere took offence to and are then hypocritical enough to join in a pile on like the sad poseurs they are.”

In a later post he added: “Apparently the poseurs are now attacking my Instagram account that I’ve never used. They are quite comical.

“Do you think they light a cigarette after they’ve wiped the spittle from their keyboard and removed the Caps lock?”

Numerous fellow public figures and comedians were quick to denounce his behaviour.

LBC presenter Natasha Devon tweeted: “Aside from Lee Hurst’s tweet being painfully unfunny, attention-seeking, creepy, inappropriate, heteronormative codswallop, it’s also emblematic of a cohort of middle aged men who genuinely seem to think they can solve the world’s problems with their genitals.”

Award-winning comic David Baddiel wrote in a now-deleted post: “The reason that Lee Hurst is problematic isn’t because it carries underneath it a sense that women, as individuals, with political opinions, are erased by male sexual power. It’s problematic because it’s a s*** gag.”

And musician John Spiers said dismissively: “This should really end Lee Hurst’s career as a public figure and comedian ... sadly that is impossible because it already happened 25 years ago.”

More: Take action: 10 ways you can help end violence against women, even during a pandemic