Nigel Farage tricked into paying tribute to paedophile singer Ian Watkins in Cameo video
Nigel Farage appears to have paid tribute to disgraced Lostprophets singer and convicted pedophile Ian Watkins in a video posted on social media, in which he describes himself as a “genuinely good guy”.
The video was posted on Cameo, an online platform where fans pay celebrities for personalized video messages, and showed Mr Farage saying Watkins “loves his children” after being tricked by a prankster who paid him to make the video.
John Smith, who reportedly paid £98 for the video, said he was concerned he had failed to see through the Reform leader’s “papery deception”.
The pedophile rock star, who was serving a 29-year prison sentence for sexual offenses against children, was stabbed to death at HMP Wakefield last year.
Watkins, 48, was jailed in December 2013 after admitting a string of sexual offenses including attempting to rape a fan’s baby.
Mr Farage was criticized on social media for the video, with some saying it showed “one cannot bother with due diligence”.
In the cameo video, the Reform leader said: “This message is a tribute to Ian Watkins, a good man, a truly good man, who had great contact with me, loved his children and will be greatly, greatly missed by them forever.
“And he will always have a very special place in everyone’s heart. And remember what he always said: ‘Crazy hahaha.’
“Well, let me tell you, that pretty much sums up the world, right?
“I’m sorry for your grief, but please try to keep your happy memories.”
Mr Smith said: Metro: “Getting the video was a simple task in itself; I just asked him to make a video for a friend of mine, the late Ian Watkins, and his family.
“I’m worried that you can’t see through my obvious deception and willingness to do anything for money without even a simple check.”
When he is approached Metro Mr Farage said of the video: “Thank him for the money. There’s plenty of Ian Watkins. Tell him to send more. I changed his request.”
Meanwhile, Mr Farage’s spokesman said: Independent: “Nigel has made thousands of cameos for fans and supporters over the years.
“Unfortunately, a handful of people are abusing this by trying to fool or prank it.”
In 2013, Guard He reported that Watkins spoke to a female admirer in prison the day after he admitted to two attempted baby rapes and said he would make a statement when he was sentenced, saying the whole thing was “very funny.”
“I’m going to make a statement on the 18th to say this is hilarious. I don’t know why everyone is so scared,” he said.
Mr Farage regularly makes videos for Cameo and often reads inside jokes for people’s birthdays.
In 2021, he was tricked into reading a message supporting the IRA by tricksters targeting the controversial personality on the video messaging site.
The former politician reads a birthday message and is seen holding up his drink and saying: “Relaxing” in a clip on the video-sharing platform.
Mr Farage told MailOnline at the time: “If I had seen ‘above the RA’ I would have looked at it as something very innocent and wouldn’t have even known it was an insinuation.”
Thousands of people watched the latest footage on social media, with one person saying: “This makes clear the fact that he will say anything for money and won’t bother doing any research on it.”
Another said: “He’s allegedly smart enough to run the country, but not smart enough to Google someone before reading a tribute to Cameo.”
