Nish Kumar: Comedian booed at cricket charity lunch 'over Brexit jokes'
Video posted on social media shows Nish Kumar being booed while he is on stage at the Lord's Taverners Christmas charity event.
Greg James has said he was "embarrassed" to be at a sporting charity lunch where comedian Nish Kumar was booed as he performed on stage.
The Radio 1 DJ, who is an ambassador for the Lord's Taverners youth cricket and disability sports charity, tweeted about the event to say Kumar's treatment was "appalling".
Video posted on social media showed the audience booing the comedian, who had reportedly been joking about Brexit.
He then joked about former speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, saying he would not leave the stage.
A man absolutely died on stage 🤦🏼*♂️ pic.twitter.com/WPCbpKEUHk
— Jon Austin 🤔 (@JonCAustin) December 2, 2019
Following reports that he had also been "pelted with bread" at the event, Kumar, who hosts satire show The Mash Report, also tweeted about his treatment, joking: "In my defence, it was only one bread roll and it missed me."
In another tweet, Kumar said: "I had bread thrown at me doing an unpaid charity gig. What a life."
Stars including Harry Redknapp, Chris Addison and Andy Parsons were also at the event.
In his tweets, James said that Lord Taverner's was a charity he "was proud to be an ambassador of" and "the work they do with disadvantaged young people is extraordinary" but "disagreeing with someone doesn't mean you have the right to abuse them verbally or physically".
Sky News has contacted Lord's Taverners for comment.
Taverners member Mike Fitchett, who was at the event, reportedly told Mail Online that Kumar's set could only be described as "a political speech" expressing "extreme, far-left" views.
He was quoted as saying: "The man was just not suitable and it wasn't the place for him to air his views, which were basically a lefty slant on politics and Brexit. It left a very bad taste. He was booed and came off stage early despite threatening to carry on."
https://news.sky.com/story/nish-kuma...jokes-11877141
