COLM MEANEY has let rip at England’s attitude to the Irish in a hilarious new advert for betting company Paddy Power.
The advert for the upcoming Cheltenham Racing Festival sees the Star Trek actor take aim at the English for a glut of amusing misdemeanours.
In the video Meaney starts by noting the way in which English people will often mock the way the Irish pronounced “thirty-three” despite their own struggles with the word “Siobhan”.
"For ordering a 'black and tan' in front of us without blinking or for saying your grandfather was from Clare," Meaney says, before adding in comically stony-faced style: "he was a landlord."
“This is for Geoblocking the iPlayer, and for dragging us into your messy divorce,” he continues.
“For leaving us in the worst parts of your airport and for chasing out the first Royal’s that were ever any fun.”
Joined by a merry band of ‘Irish’ followers holding signs featuring slogans like "beans don't belong on a fry” Meaney ridicules the way the English media adopt Irish celebrities as their own, alluding to Saoirse Ronan, Niall Horan, and Katie Taylor.
He also criticises them “for not caring as much as we do about Ireland versus England.”
Speaking to Paddy Power about his involvement in the advert Meaney says: “It’s a sort of gentle joshing, if you like, given the sporting rivalry that exists between England and Ireland. I think this is a nice gentle push back at that.”
He also admitted the ongoing political climate following Brexit has only served to make that sense of rivalry even livelier.
“It’s certainly given things a little more sauce, hasn’t it? A little bit more heat.”
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