Disabled councillor with blue badge for lung condition defends TikTok video showing him dancing and doing Michael Jackson-style moonwalk as ‘a bit of fun’ because ‘the air was good’
- Lee Jeavons, former deputy leader of Walsall Council, was seen in TikTok videos
- Another showed him dancing to the Men In Black soundtrack in a car park
- The councillor said he was granted a blue badge due to a lung condition
- He said he ‘can’t walk at the same pace as other people’ or for ‘extended periods’
A councillor with a lung condition and a driver’s Blue Badge has defended posting a TikTok video of himself doing a Michael Jackson-style Moonwalk dance.
Lee Jeavons, former deputy leader of Walsall Council, in the West Midlands, is seen moving up the steps of his garden in the 14-second clip.
In another, lasting around 20 seconds, he dances to the Men In Black soundtrack in a car park.
He said it was nothing more than a ‘bit of fun’.
The councillor said he was granted a blue badge due to a lung condition which meant he was unable to walk for long periods without difficulty.
Former deputy leader of Walsall Council Lee Jeavons, who has a driver’s blue badge because of a lung condition, has defended posting a TikTok video of himself doing a Michael Jackson-style Moonwalk dance
The Labour member for Birchills Leamore said the ‘stars aligned’ on the day the video in his garden was filmed during lockdown as the ‘air was good’ and he ‘felt good’.
Drivers can receive a blue badge if they are disabled, have long-term health conditions or have problems walking or getting around.
Councillor Jeavons, who was elected in 2010 and is a former deputy leader of Walsall Council, insisted his condition shouldn’t stop him from having fun.
On the garden dance, he said: ‘TikTok is about 15 seconds worth of dancing and I just about managed 15 seconds’ worth.
‘Looking at the dance, it’s not particularly energetic.
‘It was during that period of lockdown, the air was good, I felt good. It was a rare occasion where the stars aligned.
‘What are disabled people supposed to do? Just succumb? I was judged to be able to have a blue badge.
‘I can’t walk at the same pace as other people, I can’t walk for extended periods of time. I get quite short of breath and cough a lot.
‘I do do TikTok. It’s a bit of fun, to stop me going mental. I was showing that while I’m a councillor I’m still a human being and like to have fun.’
Councillor Jeavons said his application for a blue badge was approved earlier this year.
‘As a councillor I have to get out and about. I use my vehicle most of the time to do that.
‘If I had to walk to the corner shop I could do it on a summer day maybe but I would get absolute burning in my lungs,’ he said.
‘They do review the blue badge procedure. If they take it away they take it away.’
Councillor Jeavons suggested the videos were leaked to ‘stir up trouble’.
‘In politics you make friends and some enemies,’ he added.
In another, lasting around 20 seconds, he dances to the Men In Black soundtrack in a car park