Katie Hopkins ‘tricked’ into accepting fake award by YouTube prankster Josh Pieters

Video shows Hopkins smiling in front of screen bearing ‘Campaign to Unify the Nation Trophy’ slogan – with capital letters spelling out profanity

A YouTube prankster seems to have tricked Katie Hopkins into picking up a “completely fake” award following which she delivered an offensive speech that saw her mock Muslims, Asian people and epilepsy sufferers.

Josh Pieters said the former Apprentice contestant flew to Prague to accept the trophy on Monday (27 January).

In footage from the “ceremony”, Hopkins – a far-right commentator – can be seen smiling with Pieters in front of a screen bearing the words “Campaign to Unify the Nation Trophy.”

When she collects the award, the capital letters enlarge, spelling out the C-word.

“It’s strange to hear nice things being said about yourself,” she can be heard saying.

Katie Hopkins was tricked into accepting a fake award by YouTube prankster Josh Pieters (YouTube)

“Now that Katie Hopkins can’t read Twitter, I can tell you that on Monday I made her fly to Prague to pick up a completely fake award,” Pieters wrote before uploading the clip.

In the clip, Pieters says: “You might wonder if this is a bit mean. For a moment, I did too, but then she made her speech and told us what she really thought.”

To the shock of the small crowd of actors gathered in front of her, Hopkins then proceeded to crack a series of offensive and racist jokes, which Pieters has since said left him “lost for words”.

Pieters broke down the specifics of the elaborate prank and the reasons why he felt the prank was “justified” in an interview after the video went viral.

The YouTuber succeeded in tricking Hopkins after setting up a fake website called “The Cape Town Collective for Freedom of Speech”.

The Independent has contacted Hopkins for comment.

Hopkins’ Twitter account was suspended ​earlier this week after being accused of spreading hate.