Furious Royal Variety Show viewers complain to Ofcom over Simon Brodkin’s ‘sick and insensitive’ joke

THE ROYAL Variety Show viewers have blasted Simon Brodkin over his "sick" and "insensitive" joke about Covid.

Many furious viewers took to social media to complain about the stand-up comedian, 46, and said they would be complaining to Ofcom.

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The comedian has previously been known for his daring routines, including handing Theresa May a P45 and throwing money at FIFA President Sepp Blatter during a press conference.

But last night he quipped that he "broke into a lab in Wuhan in 2019", in reference to the outbreak of the deadly virus.

Simon told the audience: "I am the guy that did all the stunts and people always want to know if my stunts ever go wrong. Occasionally, late 2019 I broke into this laboratory in Wuhan. Sorry."

Although his joke was received well by the audience, it sparked fury among those at home who had been affected by Covid.

One raged: "HOW dare you make a DISGUSTING joke about the pandemic? I will be making a complete Ofcom about this you should be ashamed of yourself."

A second complained: "The Wuhan joke was very poor taste. Many lost loved ones, or remain poorly - not funny."

"Sorry, but jokes about Covid are in poor taste, we lost a family member to it. I'm a nurse and worked through it too, terrible times," a third commented.

A fourth echoed: "Very distasteful and insensitive joke about the Wuhan Labs. Many people lost their lives to Covid."

Another fumed: "Was Simon Brodkin making a joke about Covid?? The joke about him breaking to a laboratory if so that's not funny that's sick!!"

Simon’s most headline-grabbing stunts include him breaching Donald Trump's security at his Turnberry golf club in Ayrshire in 2016, throwing cash at corrupt Fifa boss Blatter in 2015 and storming the stage at Kanye’s Glastonbury set the same year.

He also handed Prime Minister Theresa May a P45 at the 2017 Tory conference before telling her that her rival Boris Johnson put him up to it.

Simon previously told The Sun: “With the Trump one, it was a bit of a lottery who would get to me first as there were so many different law enforcements there, but thankfully it was the Scottish police.

“What would you rather be — waterboarded by the FBI or interrogated by the Scottish police?

“They grabbed me, took me away and bundled me into a van.

“I was crapping myself for a little while and this big, burly officer yanked open the door and said in the most Scottish of accents, ‘Yous, mate, are very f***ing funny.’ And they treated me great.

“Another one gave me a sip of his Irn-Bru out of love. Then another asked if he could get my signature. They were super-nice and persuaded the Trumpets not to press charges.”

And what happened after he showered Fifa president Blatter with dollar bills during a news conference at Fifa HQ in Switzerland in the guise of his footballer character Bent?

Blatter temporarily suspended the conference and Simon says: “We both left the room like naughty kids in class, like one kid punched another.

“He said to me, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’ I replied, ‘If either one of us should be ashamed here, it’s not me.’

“I was then taken to a cell but the police knew I wasn’t a threat. They’re used to proper criminals and they’re looking at me, going, ‘Is this really what I trained for? For this little f***er?’

“They started to make jokes and loosened my handcuffs. Later they’d be knocking on my cell door, saying it was all over the internet.”

He also managed to blag his way on stage at Glastonbury when Kanye West was performing in 2015.