Coronation Street fans have been left baffled after discovering one major star of the ITV soap is keen on sharing conspiracy theories via social media.
Daniel Brocklebank, who plays vicar Billy Mayhew on the cobbles, has a lot to cope with on set at the moment, as he’s involved in an assisted dying storyline. Billy is struggling to come to terms with his husband Paul’s motor neurone disease diagnosis and wish to end his own life before his condition progresses too much.
But online, the actor himself has shared some rather controversial views. He originally came under fire in 2022 for his anti-vaxx views during the Covid-19 pandemic, even liking and retweeting posts that called for SAGE scientists to be arrested.
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But now the actor has evolved to share a slew of conspiracies about government surveillance, climate change and more. One post, retweeted from former Brexit candidate Jim Ferguson, read: “Breaking news: climate lockdowns are coming.
(Image: itv)
“Oxfordshire County Council pass climate lockdown ‘trial’ to begin in 2024. Residents will be confined to their local neighbourhood and have to ask for permission to leave it, all to ‘save the planet’,” the tweet claimed. In reality, the so-called “lockdown” is a pilot scheme looking into traffic reduction to reduce congestion around the area.
The county council told The Associated Press that this will not involve confining anyone to neighbourhoods, and “everywhere in the city will still be accessible by car”. Spokesperson Paul Smith added: “Nobody will need permission from the county council to drive or leave their home.”
Instead, license plate recognition cameras can fine drivers who cross through ‘filters’ without a permit, which are limited to 100 per year per person.
Brocklebank has also retweeted posts claiming a man in Britain was “fined £90” for covering his face from a facial recognition camera – which has since had community notes added to explain that he was actually arrested for abusing a police officer.
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
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Now fans can’t believe that the humble Billy star is sharing these beliefs online, and took to Reddit to share their thoughts. One penned: “Goodness me his Twitter is like the worst 14 year old conspiracy theorist’s! Quite surprised to be honest.”
Someone else added: “Sometime I yearn for a time, way back, when I could easily avoid knowing how weird & unpleasant an actor was simply by avoiding the rags.” While a third echoed: “New news to me, I’m quite surprised the more and more of his Twitter I was reading to be honest. Very hard right conspiracy stuff that even Elon’s ‘X’ literally has ‘community notes’ disputing the crap Billy from Corrie is rt’ing.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
