A Pulp fan has accused frontman Jarvis Cocker of mocking her onstage after claiming an embarrassing anecdote he told at a recent show was about her.
Former self-confessed ‘mega fan’ Ruth Husko attended the band’s reunion tour show at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Thursday night in support of Pulp’s new album More, their first one in 24 years.
She said she was ‘absolutely mortified’ to hear the singer reminisce about a former audience member’s behaviour at another gig in the city in the late 1990s and realise that he was allegedly speaking about her.
Sharing a photo from the gig to X, Ruth began her post by saying she had been enjoying the show ‘immensely’ until Cocker, 61, started talking about Pulp’s 1998 gig at the NEC.
She recalled that he had explained how balloons were supposed to fall from the ceiling during the gig, but he had struggled to release them properly from the net – resulting in just one single balloon falling out.
Ruth wrote: ‘He went on to describe how a woman at the front of the crowd had grabbed that sole balloon and then he did a little impression of the woman, really enthusiastically waving the balloon around like a moron for the rest of the show.
‘He summed it up saying it was the most humiliating experience of his life and everyone laughed.’
To her horror, this is when Ruth claims it dawned on her that the woman the Common People hitmaker was talking about was, in fact, her – aged 15.
She continued: ‘Ladies and gentlemen: that woman was 15 years old, and I know because it was me.
‘I was a Pulp mega fan back then and would’ve done anything for Jarvis to acknowledge my existence. Now he’s doing an impression of me looking like a f*****g dollop in front of an audience of thousands.’
However, she then made a little dig back, adding: ‘Was absolutely mortified, but at least I didn’t dress up as Rolf Harris for Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes (2002).’
In 2014, Harris was convicted on twelve counts of indecent assault against four female victims, aged between eight and 19. He served nearly three years of his five years and nine months sentence, before dying aged 93 in May 2023.
He had always denied any wrongdoing.
In a follow-up tweet, Ruth also shared that she found it funny Cocker had described her as a woman, despite being only a teenager at the time.
‘In 1998 I was still a child. Having said that I was 5ft 9in, obese and used to wear a Caterpillar jacket. I looked like a divorced bricklayer from Stoke,’ she added.
Pulp scored their first number one album in 27 years this month with More, having last topped the charts with This Is Hardcore in 1998.
There have also been rumours running rampant that Pulp is the true identity of secret act Patchwork, set to grace the stage at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival next weekend.
Popular tip account SecretGlasto seemingly ‘confirmed’ the news that it would be Pulp taking to the Pyramid Stage in that primetime slot of 6:15pm on Saturday, June 28.
SecretGlasto shared a video of a patchwork quilt and someone using a sewing machine before cutting to clips of Jarvis Cocker and Pulp.
Cocker has recently spoken about doing patchwork while on tour, and he’s already set to be at Glastonbury this year for a DJ set at the Stone Bridge bar.
Formed in Sheffield in 1978, Pulp grew in popularity in the mid-90s, firstly with their 1994 album His ‘n’ Hers and then its follow-up Different Class.
Their recent return with new music has proven bittersweet after the band lost bassist Steve Mackey in 2023.
Metro has contacted a rep for Jarvis Cocker for comment.
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