The Leadmill: Famous Sheffield venue responds to comedian's claim that joke got him banned

A comedian appears to have backtracked on his claim that a joke at The Leadmill's expense got him banned from the famous Sheffield venue.

Vittorio Angelone shared a clip on Instagram of the joke in question about the Leadmill Road club's ongoing fight against eviction by the building's owner, who wants to take over running the venue.

The comedian, who has more than 200,000 followers on Instagram, asked 'did I deserve to be banned for this?'.

When someone questioned whether he had really been banned, he replied 'yup, might post the email if people wanna see it'.

What did The Leadmill say about comic's claim?

But when The Star asked The Leadmill whether the comic had been banned, a spokesperson replied: "No it's not true, we're actually promoting his upcoming show in March. "We booked him into the Foundry venue. We have Matilda Shakes on at The Leadmill on that same date and can't do two different events on the same day in The Leadmill because of the layout of the building."

The Star also contacted Vittorio Angelone, whose agent replied: "We can confirm that there isn’t a ban with the venue and they’re looking forward to him coming to Sheffield on 9th March."

The Star asked his agent whether that meant the whole thing had been a publicity stunt, to which they responded: "No, it was just a quip on social media."

What was the joke?

In the joke, made during a previous gig at The Leadmill, Vittorio told the audience he had read the petition opposing the closure, which he said described how it would be a 'travesty if it ever got shut down'.

He continued: "And I was like, it wasn't always. A little known fact, it used to be a lead mill.

"And, let's be real, do you think they started a petition when it was getting shut down? Don't let this historic lead mill be turned into a s****y music venue.

"But like come on what's a bigger loss to a community? When the lead mill closed it was like streets full of households losing all their income, children going hungry, crying themselves to sleep at night.

"And this music venue gets closed and The Bootleg Beatles will have to perform somewhere else."

The joke appeared to go down well with the crowd at The Leadmill, eliciting great laughter, and the clip has been liked more than 9,000 times since being shared on Instagram.

What is happening to The Leadmill?

The Leadmill building was actually a derelict flour mill before reopening as a community centre and music venue in 1980.

Electric Group, which owns the building, wants to take it over and continue running it as a music venue.

But The Leadmill, which has been there since 1980 and claims to be Sheffield's longest running live music venue and nightclub, is fighting to stay put.

More than 46,000 people signed its petition, with the Arctic Monkeys, Def Leppard and Pulp among the famous bands backing the campaign.

The Leadmill's 20-year lease expired on March 25, 2023, but it is continuing to operate as normal ahead of a court hearing expected to take place this May at which Electric Group will seek to repossess the venue.

Electric Group, which also has venues in London, Bristol and Newcastle, has said it is planning a 'sensitive refurbishment' of the venue to keep it 'at the heart of culture in the city of Sheffield for years to come'.