Daisy May Cooper suspends own Instagram account in publishing row

Thursday 4th March 2021, 11:50am by Jay Richardson

Daisy May Cooper has suspended her Instagram account after a row with her publisher
Her memoir, Don't Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her, was only announced yesterday
Cooper apparently wants to include a story about an ex-boyfriend's penis; but is it a publicity stunt?

Daisy May Cooper has seemingly resolved a dispute with the publishers of her forthcoming memoir.

The This Country star disabled her Instagram account this morning, ostensibly in protest at Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin, not allowing her to include a story about her ex-boyfriend's penis in her book, Don't Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her, which was announced yesterday and will be published in October.

British Comedy Guide received the following statement from Cooper this afternoon via Dunn Literary, on behalf of Cooper's agents The Mason Sisters:

"I threw a tantrum this morning and disabled my account on Instagram in protest. Penguin have offered to let me dedicate the book to my ex-boyfriend's wonky knob. I have accepted and we have made up. I also ended up having a heart-to-heart with the publisher (the man in the video) who confessed he was in a really bad mood yesterday.

"Mainly because his 5 year old son keeps hitting him with a stick and there is a cat on his street that keeps using his own cat's cat flap and is intimidating him in his own house. So I figure now he isn't that bad and once lockdown is over we are going for a pint. Annoyingly Instagram won't let me activate my account for 24 hours so I more pissed off with Instagram than I am with him. And that's all I wish to say to the press right now."

At the time of writing, Cooper's Instagram account, which has more than 946,000 followers, remains suspended.

Yesterday she posted a secretly filmed video and included details of a meeting instructing her publishers that she wished to include the wonky penis story in the book.

This morning, after taking down her Instagram account, she posted a follow-up message via her father and This Country co-star Paul Cooper's account, in which she explained:

"It's been back and forth, back and forth with my agents this morning. I've threatened to come off Instagram and I did. We've now currently asked if I can dedicate the book to my ex-boyfriend with the bent knob and we are just waiting to hear back from Penguin to see if that's something that they can compromise on. So I'll keep you posted."

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In a post that was approaching 500,000 views when it was screengrabbed last night, Cooper had written: "Me secretly trying to wind my publishers up in a meeting today. Dont [sic] care if they their [sic] assholes in a twist about it as they've already paid me up upfront [sic]."

In the accompanying video, which appears to have been shot on a mobile phone laid on a table, Cooper can be heard asking someone involved in the book deal to be able to include a story about her ex-boyfriend, "who had a knob that bent massively to the left".

When questioned as to whether the story is important enough to be included or whether the ex will be able to identify himself, Cooper appears to instruct them that they "can go back to Penguin and say that that is actually a dealbreaker for me. Because I don't want to be writing about stuff where I can't talk about my ex-boyfriend's knob."

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Speculation had been rife on social media as to whether Penguin had had Cooper's Instagram suspended or whether the disappearance is an elaborate publicity stunt, with hashtags such as #freedaisymaycooper and #IstandWithDMCooper trending on Twitter.

Speaking yesterday on the announcement of Don't Laugh, Michael Joseph's Charlotte Hardman, said: ''Daisy had already taken her place in our hearts with This Country but she has also become Instagram and TikTok's stand out star during this past strange year.

"She has entertained us all with her parodies, her insight into how the government works, her own take on famous theme tunes and her flirtation with the Sea Captain. She has provided all of the laughs just when we all needed it most and garnered a huge following as a result."

Cooper can currently be seen in Sky One's Dating No Filter, and will shortly appear on screens alongside Tim Key in the forthcoming BBC period sitcom The Witchfinder.

Daisy May Cooper - Don't Laugh, It'll Only Encourage Her

Life hasn't always been straightforward for Daisy May Cooper: growing up in rural poverty in Gloucestershire with her brother Chaz, she had to work a myriad of low-paid and unrewarding jobs just to make ends meet. Don't Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her is the endearingly honest and hilarious memoir from the co-creator and star of award-winning BBC comedy This Country.

Daisy explains:

"When things were really bad, Mum would always say to me:
'Don't worry, it will be a good read for your memoir one day.'
'Mum, I auditioned to be a stripper by snogging a pole and was laughed off the stage by a bunch of topless dancers.'
'Well that can go in the memoir.'
'Mum, I spent all my student loan accidently on a penthouse suite in a fancy hotel in Marble Arch, now I face getting kicked out of drama school.'
'That's a good one for the memoir.'
'Mum, sorry I'm late for dinner, I had to work late at my cleaning job because someone balanced a Quaver packet full of piss on the radiator in the boy's toilets, and I didn't realise until I picked it up, so I had to wash the piss off me in the sink while trying to learn my lines for that Call The Midwife audition I have in London tomorrow.'
'Memoir...'"

"I have lived the most humiliating, ridiculous, screw-up of a life but Mum was right, you've just got to remember, sometimes the worst experiences make the most entertaining stories."

First published: Thursday 28th October 2021

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