James Corden says he ‘inadvertently’ told Ricky Gervais’ ‘brilliant’ Twitter joke about him on the BBC
The star of The Office and Extras, who is starring in the Netflix-backed drama House of Cards, says he was unaware he was about to make history as the British politician to be mocked on the Twitter feed of his former friend and rival.
In one of his first public outings since leaving hospital, Stephen Parkinson, was seen on the micro-blogging site in March this year, joking about the comedian Ricky Gervais and his new Netflix show.
Despite the unintentional publicity for Parkinson, the 45-year-old from south London insists he wasn’t involved in the tweet – which saw him labelled ‘boring old fuckbag’.
Instead, he simply received it as part of a joke from Gervais in reply to a joke he had made about the politician.
But in a revealing interview for The Sunday Mirror, Parkinson reveals he ‘inadvertently’ told the joke, which he says sparked the ‘glorious’ reaction from the people of New York.
He says it was an unexpected and ‘amazing’ reaction, adding: ‘I remember thinking I didn’t want to say it. It made me laugh and we chatted. He was so good fun.’
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The comedian Stephen Parkinson was on Twitter a week before he made history in March by being the first politician known to have been mocked on social media
The Daily Mirror newspaper was one of several media outlets to tweet the comments, revealing details of him, as they were posted to Gervais.
‘What a funny thing to have said’ reads the message on Parkinson’s profile, which is his real name.
However, the star says he had no idea he was potentially becoming the first politician to be lampooned on social media until he got on Twitter the following day.
He added: ‘As I said, I wasn’t involved at all. I was on stage with Ricky, just filming and he was funny and we had a terrific time. It was very surreal coming days later. I didn’t know anything of this when it happened.
‘It was the best. I love Ricky and I adore him
