Comedian Lehmo confronts Drag Race star Anita Wigl’it for ‘stealing’ Prince Andrew joke

An Aussie comedian has publicly called out one of the stars of Drag Race Down Under for stealing his material for a segment on the show.

SAFM radio host and comedian Anthony ‘Lehmo’ Lehmann has confronted one of the stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, accusing her of stealing one of his controversial jokes for the iconic Snatch Game episode.

During the second episode of the Australia and New Zealand spin-off series, the queens took part in the Snatch Game celebrity impersonation challenge, with Anita Wigl’it scoring the win for her hilariously lewd imitation of the Queen.

Now, Lehmo has claimed one of the jokes about Prince Andrew was plucked from his Twitter profile – the very same joke that was cut from the UK broadcast of the episode as it was deemed too inappropriate by the BBC.

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“When you turn 100 you get a letter from the queen, when you turn 16 you get a text from Prince Andrew,” Anita had joked during the episode when she transformed into her Queen Elizabeth character.

Speaking on SAFM’s breakfast show, Lehmo claimed the witty punchline was actually his, having tweeted it last year.

“RuPaul’s Drag Race is the biggest reality TV show in the world, my joke has gone global without me!” he exclaimed.

“What makes this even worse was that joke was banned by the BBC from the RuPaul’s broadcast in the UK, because it was too offensive to the Royal family.

“I want to be banned by the BBC, I want to offend the Royal family!” he joked.

Check out the tweet below:

When you turn 100 you get a letter from the Queen.

And when you turn 16 you get a text from Prince Andrew.

— lehmo23 (@lehmo23) July 31, 2020

Taking his claim to Instagram, Lehmo directly approached Anita, writing: Hey @anitawiglit happy to help out with material anytime if you need!! Loving your work on @rupaulsdragrace.”

Responding to the accusation, the drag performer apologised and explained herself, revealing the initial incarnation of the joke she had penned for the episode was much more crude.

“Oh no! I do apologise!! When I was doing research for the Queen character I knew that there was something funny about the letter writing.

“Initially I had “Queen sends a letter to celebrate 100 years and Prince Andrew also celebrates birthdays with a sweet 16 kiss … on the vagina.” Friends suggested the text, turns out they had heard it somewhere before!”

The Prince Andrew joke’s origin and banning by the BBC isn’t the first controversy to surround the Drag Race Down Under Snatch Game episode.

Sydney queen Etcetera Etcetera became the centre of online backlash shortly after the episode aired due to her portrayal of wrongly imprisoned woman Lindy Chamberlain.

In one of the most publicised murder trials in Australian history, Chamberlain was wrongly accused of murdering her own baby and jailed for three years in 1982. The child, Azaria, was snatched by a dingo from a campsite near Uluru, a moment Etcetera Etcetera mocked during the challenge.

While the performance elicited a few big laughs from Ru, who joked of the blue humour “We are all going to hell for this,” over on Twitter, the general consensus was a feeling of discomfort.

disgusted at that portrayal of lindy chamberlain in drag race down under’s snatch game. should not have been safe. she lost her baby and had to deal with a media bloodbath. i just don’t feel that’s a cool thing to make fun of. i never post hate but damn. fucking abhorrent.

— rachel rose mitchell 🌹 (@rachelrmitchell) May 8, 2021

I take a lot to offend and appreciate black comedy but Lindy Chamberlain was a really poor choice. It actually made me really uncomfortable.
Her baby died and she couldn't grieve properly. She was hounded by the media mercilessly for years.
Do better. #DragRaceDownUnder

— Megan Harding (@megsyharding) May 8, 2021

Doing Lindy Chamberlain was a decision of absolute poor taste. This was neither funny, nor a bit risqué. It was rude and distasteful. How nobody questioned it and asked her to change is beyond me! #DragRaceDownUnder

— sophie (@sophieelophiee) May 8, 2021