Truth about Osbourne's outburst at comic

Yesterday, the Daily Mail reported that the X-Factor judge had told the Australian comic to ‘fuck off’ after he criticised her daughter Kelly at an awards ceremony.

At the time Jeffries agent told Chortle it was ‘all true’ and would be alerting the other tabloids.

However, today his publicist issued a statement casting doubt on the story, saying: ‘The story that came out in the Daily Mail yesterday was a result of someone watching Jim’s Edinburgh preview show and making the schoolboy error of believing that stand-up comedy is 100 per cent fact.

‘Comedians sometimes play light and heavy with the truth. Why let the facts get in the way of a good joke?’

The bust-up allegedly happened after Jeffries made comments about Kelly’s looks and lack of talent at the NME Awards USA earlier this year. At the show, he said, sarcastically: ‘I think she’d be famous even if she wasn’t Ozzy's daughter – she’s that good,’ which prompted Kelly to spit at him.

Afterwards, he received several angry emails – including one which was had allegedly come from Sharon Osbourne, saying: ‘Dear Nobody. Wait until you're a celebrity before you criticise REAL celebrities. Why don't you fuck off.’

However, today’s statement reveals that this might not be the full story. It said that ‘from what Jim can remember’, the email came from someone called ‘Shazza’ claiming to be Kelly’s mum.

Jeffries’s spokeswoman conceded that even then: ‘He believed it wasn’t really Sharon and it was all in good fun.’

However, the story has appeared in newspapers across the world, including Jeffries original response: ‘Dear Sharon. After you had all that plastic surgery and had the fat sucked out of your thighs, why did you pump it into your daughter's face?’

Published: 18 Jul 2008