Lee Ryan's controversies – 9/11 shame, drag queen row, strip club ban and aliens

Controversy seems to follow Lee Ryan, and the Blue singer could now be sent to prison if he does not pay a fine given to him in court this week.

The former Celebrity Big Brother star was found guilty after a trial of two counts of failing to provide information about a driver, after he was previously charged with two counts of speeding.

He had been charged with doing 70mph in a 60-zone in Peterborough twice last year, but the charges were dismissed as there was no way of proving he was the driver.

Magistrates then found him guilty of failing to give information relating to the identification of the driver in these cases.

However he claimed he “just doesn’t have the money” to pay the fine, as he has been “out of work due to Covid”.

And it turns out this isn’t the first bit of bother he’s found himself in.

9/11 shame

Back in October 2001, Lee Ryan spoke to The Sun and said that the September 11 attack was “being blown out of all proportion”.

Speaking on the terrorist strike, he bizarrely said: “Who gives a f*** about New York when elephants are being killed?

“They are ignoring animals that are more important. Animals need saving and that’s more important. This New York thing is being blown out of all proportion.”

He eventually apologised, writing in a statement on the band’s website that they were “stupid comments”.

The 38-year-old said: “All I can say is that since we got back from New York we have all been asked again and again about our experiences there and, to be honest, what we saw in New York was so bad that I’ve always tried to avoid talking about it.

“New York was awful and I hate myself that people might think I don’t care. I cried my eyes out when I watched the towers collapse but I just don’t want to go on about it as if I’ve got something important to say about this tragedy… and so in my stupid aggressive way I tried to steer the conversation on to other topics.

“I’m not good with words and I get mixed up, but I know what I’m saying when I say I’m sorry.”

Lee went on to speak about the incident on Celebrity Big Brother in 2014 too, claiming that he hadn’t said what had been printed.

He told fellow housemate Liz Jones: “We watched the twin towers actually crumble in New York, and I was quote passionate about animals and stuff, and I said ‘do you know what, I’m so sick about hearing about this s*** when all it is going to breed is war’.

“I said, ‘why can’t you as a newspaper talk about how there’s tigers nearly extinct, why don’t you talk about s*** that’s actually gonna help the world instead of talking about s*** that’s gonna promote a f***ing war?’”

Devil’s government control

Last year, Lee claimed that the government was controlled by the devil.

He shared an image of an x-ray of a hand with an apparent microchip in it, and went off in a series of since-deleted posts.

“This is the mark of the beast – 666 – this will be the next step of governments world wide,” he wrote.

“Sorry to post this s**t but it’s true. I just wanna spread the word so people know the truth of what’s coming…”

He added: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.

“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Apocalypse 13 16…”

Even more bizarre, he once wrote on Twitter: “If I said what I was really thinking about this f***ed up world, the government would assassinate me like all the other people they’ve killed.”

Alien conspiracy

Back in 2014, Lee claimed to have seen UFOs and aliens in the past, but refused to say too much in fear of getting in trouble.

He called himself a “star child” according to a friend, who told The Sun that Lee had said he’d met other people like him.

At the time, Lee was in the CBB house and said that he’d “always wanted to be abducted by aliens”.

He previously spoke of one of his apparent encounters with an extra-terrestrial on Twitter too.

Lee tweeted: “I heard that aliens are up In those mountains digging for something precious. More precious than gold.. They exist, I’ve seen them twice now.”

Strip club ban

Also while in the CBB house, Lee admitted he had been banned from a strip club because he’d slept with five of the performers in one week.

It seems he had a busy time during Blue’s heyday, as he was linked to a number of women – and men.

Lee dated Atomic Kitten star Liz McClarnon and model Stefanie Martinez, and had a child, son Rayn, with hairdresser Sammi Millar.

He also had a daughter with another ex, Jessica Keevil – Bluebell.

On top of that, he has previously admitted to having threesomes with his bandmate Duncan James, who is openly gay.

He said: “It’s not weird… you just high five each other. I think they call it a spit roast.”

Nowadays, he’s pretty settled with his girlfriend Verity Paris, and they recently welcomed a baby girl.

Drag queen row

Earlier this year, Lee got into a blazing argument with UK drag queen Layla Zee Susan.

The drag artist, whose real name is Sammy Shepherd, shared screenshots of the argument on Instagram, after they called Lee out for his potentially insensitive comments about self-identification.

In response, Lee branded Sammy an “opinionated c***’, a “little mug” and a “f***ing melt”.

Sammy attempted to reason with Lee, saying: “I hope you can at some point see your insensitivity and educate yourself on why this would be hurtful to your trans and non binary followers.”

But Lee was having none of it, as the screenshots showed he said: “I would slap you in the face if you was in front of me you cheeky little p***k – non binary or gay or whatever the f*** you wanna call yourself – you’re not a woman. I would slap you side ways – cheeky c***.”

However he later went on to say that he was “really upset and angry”.

“I would never disrespect any community,” he told The Sun. “I know what it’s like to be disrespected for no reason and it hurts.

“It was a harmless thing, I was basically saying I’m an alien. I wasn’t being offensive to anyone, unless you’re an alien. I didn’t say one thing about the LGBTQ+ community.”

But he showed he still had fighting words, as he added: “People get so comfortable sitting behind a keyboard and being really f***ing rude, f***ing p***k. If you’re going to be rude to me, I’ll be rude back, and if you don’t like it, don’t come at me.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk