Jimmy Carr revealed during one of his tours that he once sent a sickening letter to the late Stephen Hawking, and in an attempt to be funny, pretended to have a son with the same condition as the professor.
Jimmy sent what he described as an “insane letter” to Professor Stephen Hawking, who suffered from motor neuron disease, claiming that his ‘son’ also had the same condition and was “severely disabled and has similar limitations to you.”
He then added that his ‘son’ had “a great spirit and refuses to give in on a world all too,” before saying: “Anyway what he’d really like to know is can you come over and play?”
(Image: GC Images)
The letter was then sent to Professor Stephen Hawking, but Jimmy Carr was left red-faced when Stephen’s assistant called him and enquired about his ‘son’s’ name.
In his letter, Jimmy wrote: “He is severely disabled and has similar limitations to you. But equally he has a great spirit and refuses to give in on a world all too ready to dismiss him as a four-eyed, monotonal voice boxed, wheelchair-bound freak.
“Anyway what he’d really like to know is can you come over and play?”
(Image: Getty Images)
Jimmy then made up a name for his fake son and lied about his disability to Stephen’s assistant.
However, he revealed that two weeks later he received a “beautiful” letter from Professor Stephen Hawking, along with a photograph and a copy of his biography.
The letter went on to say: “You’re never too old to play but I’m afraid I’m very busy.
“Here’s a balloon ride, maybe he’d like to go on one. I went on one recently; they can put a wheelchair in the basket.”
After receiving the letter, Jimmy admitted he felt like “the worst person in the world” when he discovered Stephen had bought him and his pretend ‘son’ a balloon ride.
While sharing the story on tour, he added: “It’s all a bit clever sending people letter and running away but that one went horribly wrong.
“I also thought it demonstrated that Stephen Hawking is not only a brilliant man but a brilliant bloke. What a lovely thing to do.”
Jimmy Carr has since revealed that he met Professor Stephen Hawking at an awards ceremony and confessed to lying to him in the letter.
(Image: FilmMagic)
Stephen later invited Jimmy to have tea with him in Cambridge, and after a few hours talking, the two became friends, with Jimmy telling The Irish Times that they would regularly go out for food or to watch a musical.
Following Professor Stephen Hawking’s death in March 2018 at the age of 76 years old, Jimmy Carr also paid tribute to him on social media, describing him as “not only a world-renowned physicist & all-around genius [but] he also had a wicked sense of humour.”
Jimmy Carr has received backlash previously for his controversial jokes and most recently hit headlines when a clip of him telling an appalling joke about travellers during the Netflix special His Dark Materials resurfaced online.
During a clip from the programme, he made a sickening joke about the deaths of travellers during the Holocaust, which has been widely criticised and condemned after it was shared online.
MP Nadine Dorries branded the joke “abhorrent” while fellow comedians David Baddiel and Paddy Doherty have also slammed the comments as “cruel” and “inhumane.”
The joke has also been condemned by the Auschwitz Memorial, Hope Not Hate and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
