Comedian Lee Hurst suspended from Twitter after Chris Whitty comments

Lee Hurst has been suspended from Twitter for comments he made on the platform after video emerged of Professor Chris Whitty being harassed in public.

The 58-year-old comedian – who describes himself as a "Proud Covidiot" – tweeted: "Whatever has happened to Chris Whitty is not enough."

Prof Whitty, England's chief medical officer, has been a prominent public face of the government's coronavirus response.

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Former They Think It's All Over panellist Hurst went on to tell his 18k followers: "I'm not putting any caveats into the Chris Whitty story. Fk him and his #FullPay, care home murdering scummy pals."

He added: "If there was no video footage of Chris Whitty we would have been told he was beaten up."

Twitter has now suspended his account @leehurstcomic for violation of the platform’s rules.

Twitter rules on Hateful Conduct state: “You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”

As a consequence of breaching the rules, users are asked to remove offensive tweets themselves and put into a period of temporary suspension. Refusal to comply “may eventually result in permanent account suspension”.

Hurst was previously suspended from the social media platform over a joke he made about teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg in March this year.

Hurst tweeted: "As soon as Greta discovers c**k, she'll stop complaining about the single use plastic it's wrapped in."

His temporary suspension was lifted and his account was reactivated the same month.

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Twitter rules state suspension will last from 24 hours to seven days depending on the nature of the violation. But repeat offences can result in full account deletion.

Yahoo UK has contacted Twitter for comment.