Fans already had their suspicions after Joe Lycett mysteriously cancelled plans for his new podcast, named Turdcast, on Friday, and now the Birmingham funnyman has confirmed that the planned audio series - and reports of a sewage “spillage” – was part of a much wider stunt calling on water companies to do more to address the sewage scandal. Last week, Lycett announced he was launching the “ploppy poddy” in which guests talk about their “toilet habits”, and even told indy100 that he’d love to have author Dr Giulia Enders on the podcast, implying it was actually a real project from the Got Your Back star. His first guest was supposedly Gary Lineker. There was even a launch event scheduled for Thursday – a day before the supposed release of the first episode - at Liverpool’s Royal Albert Dock, in which Lycett attempted to erect a giant inflatable toilet known as ‘The Turdis’ and interview the general public about their toilet stories. However, the publicity stunt had to be cancelled early “due to a technical issue” with the inflatable object, and windy conditions didn’t help with its inflation, either. A spokesperson released a statement which claimed that “a mechanical fault occurred with a portable toilet which saw a small spillage occur”. “This was immediately dealt with by the support team on hand to ensure there was no impact on the water into which the spillage occurred. “However, the event was cancelled with immediate effect as it was not possible for members of the public to use the toilet as planned. We apologise to disappointed fans hoping to attend,” they said. Lycett himself later put out his own statement on social media on Friday morning, in which he revealed the dramatic decision to “cancel the podcast indefinitely”, as it would be “inappropriate” to launch Turdcast off the back of the “ongoing investigation into the sewage spilled into the waters”. “I’d like to reiterate that it was entirely safe and managed by the team very swiftly. I’ll be releasing more information in due course,” he added. Well, that came on Saturday, when Lycett shared a video statement from “Miss Sue Idge” confirming that “of course” he didn’t spill raw sewage” and that it was instead another stunt to “get people talking about the big issues”. He continued: “I’m not spilling s*** in public everywhere. Who do you think I am, GB News? “No, it was fake sewage, from a fake toilet, to promote a fake podcast. Turdcast was never real, although we did record a real one with the real Gary Lineker. “It would have been better to use a fake Gary Lineker because we would have saved a lot of money on his day rate.” Lycett explained that his fake sewage was to get people talking about the “real sewage” being spilled by water companies every year, and that an hour-long special on water companies will air on Channel 4 next year. “Last year, according to one analysis, £1.4 billion in dividends was paid out to shareholders of the water companies – that’s a lot of money that could be used to improve the sewage network and reduce spills. “So I want the water companies to stop paying dividends, and invest that money in improving and solving this problem,” he said. He then called on viewers and fans to go to a website and email their water company, calling on them to sign up to “Joe’s Poo Promise” – lovely alliteration. Lycett has since been branded a “genius” and “national treasure” over the campaign: And it’s not the first dramatic stunt which Lycett has pulled off, as he pretended to shred £10,000 in protest at David Beckham being an ambassador for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, and created an elaborate four-year stunt which “infuriated” MPs and formed the basis of his most recent stand-up show, More, More, More! Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Olivia Dunne said, 'To see a woman winning, people sometimes have a lot to say, your success and love for what you do will outshine any of that'

The harrowing revelations in Britney Spears’s new memoir are an uncomfortable reminder of how women were treated in the ‘90s and noughties. Objectification, ridicule and “slut”-shaming were a core part of the so-called lads culture that shaped so much of popular culture at the time. Now, anyone thinking, “It can’t have been that bad,” should take a look at a video montage that’s been doing the rounds on social media. The one-minute clip was shared by fitness influencer Hayley Madigan earlier this month, with the caption: “POV: You grew up in the 90’s and now realise why your relationship with your body was so bad…” The round-up begins with an excerpt from an interview between Dutch TV presenter Ivo Niehe and a 17-year-old Britney. Somewhat breathlessly, he tells her: “Everyone’s talking about it…” prompting the teenager to innocently ask: “What?” “Well, he replies, your breasts.” It then cuts to American radio star Howard Stern telling former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith: “The way you dress and stuff, I don’t think you’re aware that you’re a heavy-set woman.” “I know I’m a big woman, so what?” she replies. He then tells her he’s been “guessing her weight” and asks her to step on some scales to check how well he did. We then see Scott Disick telling Kourtney Kardashian: “If I would have fallen in love with you a couple pounds overweight (sic), this would be my ideal weight, but I fell in love with you when you were super skinny." Next, it’s the turn of Simon Cowell, who tells an X Factor contestant that she “sounds nice but looks like a shop girl.” Clarifying, she says: “I’m overweight, basically,” to which he responds: “You really are.” Speaking of weight (and people did, a lot), we’re then treated to a clip from the now-axed Channel 4 show TFI Friday. The segment, from 1999, was filmed just two months after Victoria Beckham gave birth to her first son Brooklyn. After asking her how she got back into shape after the birth, host Chris Evans then asks if her weight was now “back to normal”. She tells him that “it is”, but he’s not satisfied. “Can I check?” he then asks, jumping from his seat and leading her to a set of bathroom scales. The penultimate excerpt is taken from a Jay Leno monologue, in which he tells viewers of his Tonight Show: “Monica Lewinsky said that President Clinton would often compliment her on her figure. “He would say things like, ‘Oh, you look skinny today.’” Pausing, Leno then doled out his punchline, saying: “You know, if you didn’t think this guy was the biggest liar in the world before…” which was met with peals of laughter from his audience. Finally, another scene from Keeping Up With the Kardashians, in which Bruce (now Caitlin) Jenner, tells his step-daughter Khloé: “I’ll get shot for bringing this up but don’t you think you should lose a few pounds?” Shaking her head dejectedly, she simply replies: “What?” The compilation racked up more than 5.4 million views and 200,000 likes in just three weeks on Madigan’s Instagram alone. In a statement accompanying the reel, the self-styled “female empowerment” guru wrote: “Whether it was in magazines, on talk shows or on reality TV… we continuously watched women get criticised. “We watched men talk negatively about women’s appearances, about their weight, about their body autonomy… and this complete disregard for women’s dignity forced a societal pressure amongst many of us who were growing up watching it.” Reflecting on her own response, she went on: “I constantly compared myself even at the young age of 12 I remember wanting to be as skinny as possible like the models on the TV. I had no desire to be anything but exactly what they looked like and I deemed them to be perfect. “I constantly heard negative opinions about women who weren’t perfect, women who weren’t small and women who didn’t fit the ideal stereotype that men created.” Wrapping up her message, she continued: “Seeing these talk shows and reality TV clips hits hard, women weren’t treated equally, we were continuously degraded and this put pressure on all of us growing up.” Then, concluding on a note of optimism, she added: “We’ve still not got to where we want to be but I feel somewhat change is happening and we will make sure the generations to come don’t endure the same pressure and issues we faced back then.” Commentators were quick to share their horror at the montage, with many condemning what they termed “male audacity” at the time. Others agreed with Madigan that it highlighted how far we’ve come in addressing such behaviours. “People often say ‘you can’t even say xyz anymore these days’,“ one wrote. “I think this video is a great testament that that is actually a positive development.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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