Comedian Jack Whitehall has responded to Becky Hill’s apparent lyrical swipe at him, saying he feels “absolutely honored” to have inspired a diss track.
The six-time BRIT Awards host addressed the song after pop star Hill seemingly referenced his widely criticized “Wetherspoons Whitney” joke in March 2025 on “Daddy’s Range Rover,” a track from her forthcoming album Rebecca (due Sept. 25 via Polydor).
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Whitehall shared his response Monday (June 1), speaking at the premiere of Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day at SXSW London. “I love her,” he said in a red carpet interview with influencer ThisIsMax. “Hey, there’s no beef from my side. I saw her at the F1, we were having a good ol’ laugh about it.”
He continued: “Do you know what? I feel honored that I’ve got a diss track written about me, and I’m surprised it’s taken this long. I’ve been throwing musicians under the bus for nearly a decade now — how has no one done this already!”
Hill had recently performed the song, which is yet to be released, at an intimate gig at The 100 Club in London on May 27. According to a report from Chortle, she introduced the track by dedicating it to Whitehall, telling the audience: “This song, I’m affectionately calling ‘Wetherspoons Whitney’, but you lot will know it as ‘Daddy’s Range Rover.’”
It arrives more than a year after Whitehall — the son of showbiz agent Michael Whitehall — sparked backlash for his joke about her during last year’s BRIT Awards, during which he compared the chart-topping singer to the British pub chain, suggesting Hill was less well-off because of her Midlands accent.
“Your daddy worked in showbiz, got you a job with his old boss,” goes her track. “I bet you didn’t even notice/ The opportunities you got.” Other lyrics include: “You judge me on my accent before I even start/ But you know nothing about me. What can I do? I’ll never be like you.”
Hill was vocal in her response to the original joke when it first made headlines, arguing that the comment reinforced class-based stereotypes. The singer, who has frequently discussed her working-class upbringing in Bewdley, Worcestershire, accused Whitehall of “punching down” in a post made to Instagram Stories at the time.
“Imagine being called a ‘Wetherspoons Whitney’ by some privately-educated nepo baby who has a TV show with daddy the showbiz agent on national TV,” wrote Hill March 11, 2025. “My parents worked so hard to provide a middle class life for me, even tho [sic] they couldn’t afford it, no one gave me a leg up, I wasn’t near London so I couldn’t go to the BRIT School. So if you associate a Midlands accent with a Wetherspoons that says more about the silver spoon in your mouth, jolly ol’ boy.”
In a subsequent post, she shared a selfie with a caption reading: “Me and my working class attitude off to work today. Remember not to be out of touch today kids, even if ur [sic] daddy is rich. Shout out Jack Whitehall for the fuel to my fire.”
Ahead of the release of Rebecca, which marks Hill’s third full-length effort, the 32-year-old will perform at a series of festivals and outdoor shows across the U.K., including Bristol’s Forwards Festival and Creamfields in Cheshire. Her second LP, Believe Me Now?, arrived in 2024, peaking at No. 3 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart.
Whitehall, meanwhile, has been growing his slate of TV and film projects throughout 2026. Alongside his role in Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day, he has appeared in the Amazon Prime Video thriller Malice and Peacock comedy-drama series The ‘Burbs alongside Keke Palmer.
