London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Janey Godley dropped from government Covid ads over tweets

Janey Godley dropped from government Covid ads over tweets

Comedian Janey Godley has been dropped from a Scottish government health campaign over "unacceptable" tweets.

The Glasgow performer was paid for a campaign to encourage face coverings and lateral flow testing.

She admitted the tweets, from a number of years ago, had "terrible, horrific undertones" after they were published by several newspapers.

A Scottish government spokesperson said trust in its public health messages was "paramount".

Ms Godley, 60, gained a large online following for her viral voice-overs of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's daily briefings during the lockdowns.

She has apologised "without reservation" to "everyone I hurt" and offered to donate the fee for the advert to the STV Children's Appeal.

A number of posts, the most recent of which was from 2017, were highlighted by the Scottish Sun.

The Daily Beast followed up by publishing several tweets from 2011 and 2012 about black performers.

'Discontinued immediately'


In a statement, Ms Godley said: "There are tweets from my past social media that are horridly offensive, I believe in progress not perfection and I am far from perfect.

"People have every right to go through my social media and see what values I hold and to find hurtful phrases and statements is shocking, I am deeply sorry to everyone I offended.

"Comedy is no excuse to use disgusting and hurtful words that affect people and I know many of you expected better of me. I apologise for every single word that upset people."

Ms Godley's #StopTheSpike adverts ran on TV and social media. She previously appeared in government-funded Zero Waste Scotland promotions.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: "A series of unacceptable tweets by Janey Godley have been brought to our attention and, while she has rightly apologised, trust in our public health messages at this time is paramount.

"We have therefore taken the decision to withdraw any further campaign material in which Ms Godley features.

"The material will be discontinued immediately on our own channels and withdrawn as soon as possible from external media."

Ms Godley was brought up in the east end of Glasgow, and has spoken candidly of her traumatic early life which included poverty and sexual abuse, before beginning a comedy career later in life.

She has appeared on the BBC as panellist on shows such as BBC Radio Scotland's Breaking the News and BBC One's Have I Got News for You, and as an actor in Traces.

She has also performed with The National Theatre of Scotland and was a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe.

High profile comedians, including David Baddiel and Dawn French, offered their support on Twitter on Wednesday and Aberdeen Performing Arts stood by their decision to cast her in their pantomime Beauty and the Beast this winter.

On Thursday, following the Daily Beast article, Ms Godley tweeted: "I am not asking people who like me to defend the offensive things I said, I appreciate many people who enjoy my work are horrified and upset at my tweets, that's how it should be, I am not the victim here, the people I hurt and offended are and I take that responsibility."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×