Lee Hurst’s ‘Black Death’ dig at the Covid vaccine wasn’t the killer line he thought it was – 13 deadly comebacks

Poke Staff. Updated June 17th, 2021

Spare a thought – only kidding – for right wing former TV comedian Lee Hurst who used the Black Death to have a dig at people getting the coronavirus vaccine and it didn’t end well, it didn’t end well at all.

The anti-vax, anti-mask Brexiter and ‘proud Covidiot’ – what’s to like? – had this to say over on Twitter.

And the takedowns came thick and fast. Here are our favourites.

remember the good old days when 30-60 percent of us would die of the fucking plague pic.twitter.com/6QoP2IN6Ux

— James Felton (@JimMFelton) June 17, 2021

The Black Death killed at least 25 million Europeans – a third of the population of the continent. Devastation and misery wrecked on millions more. But despite that, contemporary reports did conclude that it was still a whole lot funnier than your tweets. https://t.co/fXExwLFFUT

— Otto English (@Otto_English) June 17, 2021

Lee Hurst is to historical epidemiology what Lee Hurst is to comedy.

— ⁉️ (@_tillyflip_) June 17, 2021

It did kill roughly 25,000,000 people though which coincidentally enough is 24,999,999 more than the audience at your last gig.

— John Paynter (@JohnPaynter1970) June 17, 2021

Interesting history fact Lee. The word ‘quarantine’ originated from ‘quarantina’ meaning 40 days. This was the 40 day isolation ships practised as a public health measure during plague outbreaks. So, there were public health prevention measures, even then.

— Pete Matthews (@PeteMatthews19) June 17, 2021

The Black Death killed around 25,000,000, c.half of the European population.

We survived as a species the same way as ever – the fittest survived. (Quite how your ancestors survived is anybody’s guess, maybe they were protected by the cave they lived in.)

— Sir Alan B’Stard MP QC PhD KPMG (@BStardAlan) June 17, 2021

The Great Fire of London went out without a proper Fire Service so why do we even bother having one now?

— Paul Vayro (@patientman) June 17, 2021

It killed an estimated 75-200 million people Lee.
Spread by fleas on rats.
Why don’t you do a scientific experiment and bring rats into your gaff, introduce the bubonic plague to them and see how you get on.
We’ll watch on zoom.
Melt. https://t.co/FIjGbZOF68

— Caroline Hirons (@CarolineHirons) June 17, 2021

We survived as a species despite a quarter of humanity perishing in agony, then you read a Lee Hurst tweet and question whether that was, in fact, a good thing. pic.twitter.com/qFPkAV8GZk

— Sam Whyte (@SamWhyte) June 17, 2021

10.

I didn’t really have on my bingo card today – ‘washed-up comic from the 90s is in favour of the deaths of about a quarter of the world’s population,’ but here we are.

— Liz Tray (@LizTray) June 17, 2021

11.

Never mind pictures of people receiving vaccinations during the Black Death. Has anybody got pictures of a paying audience at a Lee Hurst show?

— David__Osland (@David__Osland) June 17, 2021

12.

Also, they tell us an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs – and yet, here you are.

— Citizen K (@PrimeShade) June 17, 2021

13.

Just Lee Hurst advocating the death of 25 million people so he can grab a pint while regaling the locals in the Ram's Head with tales of how he used to call Rory McGrath names on TV 30 years ago. https://t.co/8jvuLMuuy2

— DJB (@DJ_Barc) June 17, 2021

This person had some numbers, just in case anyone still wasn’t convinced.

Ah, you see Lee, conservative estimates say that the Black Death (to which I assume you mean the outbreak of the 1340s-1350s) killed roughly 1/4 of the population of Europe. So that’d be 186 million dead today; or 17 million dead in the UK in the space of a year or so. https://t.co/LRyZVv5zkI

— Gary Brannan (@garybrannan) June 17, 2021

In short …

Half of Europeans survived, Lee. You’re right about that.

Think carefully now. What happened to the other half? https://t.co/NE1QPcq6ZL pic.twitter.com/NqJQl53u26

— Dai Lama (@WelshDalaiLama) June 17, 2021

And this.

https://twitter.com/youwouldknow/status/1405475991804317696?s=20

Source Twitter @LeeHurstComic