Sir Lenny Henry addresses ‘queue-gate’ at NTA, ‘David Beckham is still queuing outside’

Sir Lenny Henry surprised the audience as he joked about David Beckham and the queue for the late Queen’s lying-in-state during the National Television Awards ceremony on Thursday.

The comedian, 64, was honored with the special recognition prize for his long-running and varied career in U.K. television.

He took to the stage to accept his award and delivered a powerful speech, during which he hilariously took a jibe at the British footballer, 47, who waited for 13 hours with other members of the public to pay his respects to the late monarch.

Sir Lenny joked, “This is so crazy, thank you so much. I know some of you were just trying to leave. These awards are so long, man, David Beckham’s still outside queuing to get in.”

The TV icon looked back on his incredible career, and spoke out about Black representation on British TV. “To actually be acknowledged by one's peers in a moment like this was huge because awards are a conversation you have with you. Of the people that you work with.”

“So to everybody in this room, to everybody who kind of said Lenny should get something... I can barely speak,” he said after collecting his award.