Joe Lycett confirms he was behind the Ian 'H' Watkins Cowbridge 'statue' plan

Comedian Joe Lycett confirmed that he was behind the fake news story that Ian ‘H’ Wakins would be getting a statue in Cowbridge. It was widely reported last week that the Steps singer’s career would be commemorated with an eight-foot statue – and this has now been confirmed to be a prank.

The prank was revealed during the launch episode of Channel 4's Late Night Lycett, which returned to screens on Friday, April 12. Joe, 35, confessed that he was behind a series of other fake news stories, including a man with a bruise of Prince Andrew and a story about an alleged Banksy painting.

Upon announcing that he was behind the prank – which Watkins was involved in himself – Joe joked: "A statue of H from Steps is being built in his hometown of Cowbridge. I know what you're thinking, that'll only be torn down in a few years when people remember his historic links to the slave trade. It was covered everywhere."

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Joe then confirmed: "There's no statue of H. We made that s**t up!"

In a bid to get people to play along with Lycett’s prank, Watkins posted a picture of the ‘statue’ to his social media platforms. He captioned the post: “Absolutely bowled over! Super proud of this! It’ll be a little strange seeing myself across the street when I pop into town!”

The singer received numerous congratulatory messages from the likes of Sophie Ellis Bexter and John Barrowman. Appearing on Late Night Lycett, Watkins said: "Fake news!"

Earlier this week Joe claimed that he had successfully planted fake news in The Daily Mail, The Sun newspaper, BBC news, Sky News, Metro, The Independent and LADBible.

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