Welsh comedian told he should be ‘burnt at the stake’ after dancing to English football song
Amelia Jones
A Welsh comedian has been trolled online after a clip from his podcast showed him dancing to England’s 2026 World Cup song.
Swansea-born Simon Emanuel has been criticised online after saying he liked England’s viral World Cup song, “Englishman in New York”.
The reaction included comments such as “Simon is dead to Wales now.” Another added: “Simon Emanuel loves the English he should be burnt at the stake.” While another commenter wrote: “After this comment I hope Simon dies in a house fire.”
Emanuel is a stand-up comedian and radio personality who has performed across the UK and Europe.
He started his stand-up career in 2008 and has since built a successful career, sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in comedy and performing at clubs across the UK and internationally.
Since 2024, Emanuel has co-hosted the hit comedy podcast The Problematic Pub alongside fellow Neath comedian Sandro Ford. The podcast attracted more than 30 million streams and downloads in its first year, with its success leading to a sold-out UK tour in 2025.
In the latest episode, Ford began reading out some of the hate comments the pair had received on social media.
Many of the comments were directed at Emanuel following a clip showing the pair listening to England’s World Cup song.
Emanuel can be seen dancing along to the Sting parody before saying: “I like it! This is good.”
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The clip was met with a wave of backlash online, with some viewers angered by Emanuel’s apparent support for the England team.
However, Emanuel appeared to take the backlash in good humour, joking about the reaction during the podcast.
He said: “Cheers guys, thank you. I like one song and now I’m dead. I’ve done so many bad things in my life you guys don’t even know about and now I’m dead to Wales because I like a song.”
You can watch the full clip here.
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Sandro Ford, a “Welsh” comedian? Now that’s a contradiction in terms.