Robbie Williams issued a response to the video about The Lottery Winners’ frontman
11:34, 04 Mar 2026Updated 11:46, 04 Mar 2026
Robbie Williams performed at Aviva Studios in Manchester on Friday, February 27(Image: Stephen Farrell)
Singer Robbie Williams has shown his support for a musician from Leigh after a social media post that went viral online. He was backing Thom Rylance, the lead singer and frontman of chart-topping band The Lottery Winners, after a TikToker posted a video questioning why he attended the BRITs.
In a video shared on social media entitled ‘The UK are inventing people again’, the TikToker shared photos from the red carpet stating “So now the BRIT Awards were a whose who of ‘who the f*** is that’ as he expressed his view that the UK “doesn’t have any real celebrities”. He then said he has “no idea” who Thom was, along with a number of other musicians who attended the ceremony on Saturday (28 February).
Thom decided to repost it with a message of his own for the TikToker, jokingly apologising that he was sorry he didn’t know who he was, but also informing him that a lot of fans, followers and music press know who he, and The Lottery Winners, are. “You don’t know who I am, that really is a problem, we’ll do better,” he quipped.
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Thom and bandmates Katie Lloyd, Joe Singleton and Robert Lally make up the Lottery Winners, the hit Leigh-born band who have enjoyed major success over the last few years including two number one albums, appearances at Glastonbury and backing from some of the biggest names in music. Last summer, they supported Robbie on his Britpop UK an EU tour, and on Friday night they warmed up for the singer at his BRITs Week show at Aviva Studios.
The Lottery Winners will headline the Leigh Sports Village Stadium on May 30, 2026(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
In his video, the Lottery Singers frontman said: “Hello mate, it’s me, Thom Rylance, the lead singer of the Lottery Winners, Thom Rylance, I’m sorry you don’t know who I am and that’s upset you, and I do take full responsibility for that but I just want to let you know that I’ve not been invented.
“What actually happened is me and three of my mates started a band years ago and really tried to hard to make it a thing, worked relentless every day writing songs and playing pub gigs, neglecting our social lives and financial responsibilities and until one day we got two of these, number one albums.
“And then I got invited to the BRITs and pretty soon we’ll be headlining a stadium, and I’m sorry you don’t think that qualifies as a celebrity and to be honest I don’t think I’m a celebrity either, but it was a music awards and I’m a musician.
(Image: PA)
“I was thinking you don’t know who I am but all the people that bought an album know who I am, and all the people who are coming to the stadium know who I am, and the people who send out the invites to the BRITs know who I am, and the journalists that were on the red carpet know who and I am, and I know who I am, but you don’t know who I am but that really is a problem, we’ll do better.”
Thom and Robbie have also struck a close friendship in recent years after the band’s 2024 hit single ‘You Again’, featuring Reverend & The Makers’ Jon McClure, caught the former Take That star’s attention.
Thom previously told the Manchester Evening News: “Rob, I call him Rob, reached out because he heard our song and then he said he did a proper deep dive and watched everything on YouTube and every interview of us.
Leigh band Lottery Winners were due to perform to (Image: © Alan Hamer)
“He Facetimed me and we had a good chat for an hour and half, now we’re calling each other four or five times a week. Sometimes it’s in Lidl, sometimes when I’m in bed, sometimes when I’m on the toilet, we’ve become so close, we’ve become best friends.”
And that friendship has resulted in a huge show of support for the frontman after his latest post, with Robbie describing Thom as “the most important person I’ve met in the last 12 months.”
In the comments section of Thom’s video, Robbie Williams added: “Someone’s who’s brought me a huge amount of sunshine in my life. The most talented, kind, funny, charismatic human being I’ve come across in 35 years in show business.
“A man who works himself into the ground every day creating something out of less than nothing. In the process he’s earned two number one albums, a legion of fans, and the respect of a pop industry that usually prefers to chew people up and spit them out.
Robbie Williams brought out The Lottery Winners frontman Thom Rylance on stage in Edinburgh(Image: Instagram: @thelotterywinners/ianthe.w)
“And you want to casually diminish him because you don’t know who he is? Well I’ve no idea who you are either…but I think we’ve learned everything we need to know rather quickly.”
The video, which has been seen by over one hundred thousand people, gained more than 7,000 likes and thousands of comments, saw even more famous names jump on board. Reverend and the Makers quipped: “I know who Thom is. He’s my mate. So leave him alone or I’ll set my mom on ya. And she’s r88888 hard.”
Even English darts pro Stephen Bunting had something to add. “Watched you guys when you was in Manchester as Robbie Williams support group and I must say wow. You guys were amazing and I instantly became a fan of the Lottery Winners. Me and my son listen to your albums all the time. Keep up the amazing work mate.”
Speaking to the M.E.N. this morning, Thom added: “It’s just really nice to have my mate’s back, I kind of feel like my big brother is the cop of the school and he’s sticking up for me. But Rob is just truly one of my closest friends and I’ll always have his back too, and there’s times when I read comments about him and I have stop myself from furiously typing into my keyboard and just saying ‘you don’t know him and if you did you wouldn’t say that’.
“I just think this whole culture of people just slating each other online is tiresome and I just really hate it to be honest – lets all just try to be kind.”