Coronation Street actor appears to hit out at former co-star Catherine Tyldesley over 'cakegate' row
9 August 2023, 15:05
A Coronation Street actor appears to have hit out at his former co-star Catherine Tyldesley over a 'cakegate' row.
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Daniel Brocklebank, 43, who plays vicar Billy Mayhew on the soap posted a cryptic message appearing to reference 'cakegate' on X - formerly Twitter.
It comes after Catherine Tyldesley came under fire when The Three Birds Bakery revealed her representatives had reached out in a bid to get free cake for her birthday celebrations in return for "exposure". The actress denied having any knowledge of the interaction.
Rebecca Severs, from Keighley, who founded the bakery, initially shared a Facebook post with a screenshot of an email exchange between the bakery and the PR company which represented an unidentified 'well-known' celebrity.
The PR company asked for a cake for a 40th birthday party in September as well as 100 cupcakes and an extra smaller birthday cake for her husband.
Support small, family run, local businesses & restaurants as much as possible. ❤️
— Daniel Brocklebank (@Dan_Brocklebank) August 8, 2023
Brocklebank appeared to reference the incident in a post saying: "Support small, family run, local businesses & restaurants as much as possible."
Others commented in agreement saying: "Totally agree- use them or lose them. Bit like cash!"
A second person said: "I agree… it’s the small little bars and Cafes that need us…"
Ms Severs saw a surge in business after the cake storm, despite Tyldesley hitting back saying the claims were "utterly bizarre".
Her initial post read: "This poor celebrity apparently can't afford to pay people for their products and services.
"Spare a thought! What happened to women supporting women."
She shared screenshots of her response saying: "Unfortunately, as my mortgage provider doesn't take payment 'in the form of promotion on their socials', and my staff can't feed their kids with exposure on Instagram, I'll have to decline your very generous offer."
The actress was later revealed to be Tyldesley, who said: “Utterly bizarre. I don't really know what to say. I mean I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving.
“Cake gate! WHAT!
“So I had no idea those emails were being sent. I'm not working with the lovely Ok magazine on anything that I'm aware of and NVRLND are an amazing company.
“They've supplied me with performers in the past. They're insane and they've been completely misrepresented in this matter.”
Days after, the bakery was threatened with legal action due to "encouraging defamation" of the business which sent the email.
Ms Severs went on to write on her website about the importance of supporting small businesses following her viral story.
