Comedian Matt Lucas has taken aim at British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in a video that quickly went viral online.
Lucas, best known for comedy sketch show “Little Britain” and the movie “Bridesmaids,” posted the video on Twitter after Johnson announced changes to UK lockdown measures Sunday that some say raised more questions than they answered.
Johnson unveiled the “careful steps” the government will take to ease the emergency restrictions, relaxing the government’s stay-at-home order and allowing some people to return to work.
However, the messaging was widely criticized for a lack of clarity – something Lucas seized upon.
Imitating Johnson’s distinctive speech style, Lucas said:
“So, we are saying don’t go to work, go to work, don’t take public transport, go to work, don’t go to work.”
“Stay indoors, if you can work from home go to work, don’t go to work.”
“Go outside, don’t go outside. And then we will, or won’t, something or other.”
As of Monday morning, the video had 2.8 million views and more than 141,000 likes on Twitter, with some users joking that Lucas’ message was easier to understand than the Prime Minister’s.
“This is actually clearer than what Johnson said,” wrote one user.
Another commented: “Tonight’s speech in 18 seconds lol.”
Johnson’s real message was delivered in a pre-recorded televised address Sunday.
“Work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you can’t work from home … and when you do go to work, if possible, do so by car or, even better, by walking or bicycle,” Johnson said.
“We want it to be safe for you to get to work, so you should avoid public transport if at all possible, because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited,” he added.
While the original stay-at-home order has been relaxed, Johnson said there will be “no immediate end” to the nationwide lockdown.
“This is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week … we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures,” the Prime Minister said.
“It would be madness now to throw away that achievement by allowing a second spike…we must stay alert. We must continue to control the virus and save lives,” he added.
CNN’s Arnaud Siad and Nada Bashir contributed to this report.
