- Online ‘influencer’ known as Lizwani has posted about Milton Keynes upbringing
- Other online video dares have targeted fashion and football showpiece events
The YouTube prankster who gatecrashed the Baftas ‘worked at a £38,000 a year private school’ and complained about not having a girlfriend before he began carrying out outrageous stunts.
The online influencer ‘Lizwani’ is otherwise known as Raphy Lizwa and claims he worked at fee-paying Stowe School – while priding himself on gaining access to VIP events before boasting about it online.
His latest stunt was to infiltrate his way on stage at Sunday’s BAFTA Awards ceremony at London‘s Royal Festival Hall.
He was seen standing in the background behind Oppenheimer actor Cillian Murphy, the movie’s director Christopher Nolan and Back To The Future star Michael J Fox who had just handed over the Best Picture prize.
The self-proclaimed ‘influencer’ who goes online by the name of Lizwani smirked while stood behind producer Emma Thomas – Nolan’s wife – as she delivered her acceptance speech.
A Facebook page for Raphy Lizwa says he attended the Hazeley Academy in Milton Keynes and worked at Stowe School, with a latest post reading: ‘Why don’t U have a girlfriend.’
Lizwani’s BAFTAs stage invasion was just the latest in a series of stunts by the youngster who has previously sneaked his way into the BRIT Awards at London’s O2 in 2022 as well as the British Fashion Awards and the MOBOs the previous year.
He also shared online how he got into a Tottenham Hotspur match in 2018, posing outside the Premier League club’s ground alongside Argentina international Erik Lamela – while at the same time giving away on YouTube his identity as Raphy Lizwa.
BAFTA organisers have been confronted with serious security questions after the YouTube prankster walked on stage with the cast of Oppenheimer.
Lizwani, in a dark suit and black tie, was seen by millions of TV viewers dashing on to the stage – having not sat with the Oppenheimer team in the auditorium
The prankster has been documenting the experience on his Instagram stories, and claimed police had confiscated some of his footage from the awards – but a Met Police spokesperson said the force was not aware of the incident.
He later posted a screenshot of himself during the BBC broadcast on his Instagram stories and wrote: ‘Here’s me and Cian Murphy receiving our award.’
And in a series of updates, Lizwani teased the release of the ‘full video’ which he says is ‘coming out soon’ – though nothing yet has followed.
The BAFTAs said security removed him and they were ‘taking this very seriously’.
A spokesman said in a statement: ‘A social media prankster was removed by security last night after joining the winners of the final award on stage – we are taking this very seriously, and don’t wish to grant him any publicity by commenting further.’
Lizwani has 8,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel and 5,000 TikTok followers where he posts videos of his exploits sneaking into award ceremonies and events.
One of the comments posted online when he appeared on stage at the BAFTAs said: ‘The f*** is Raphy doing.’
His Facebook profile suggests he attended the Hazeley Academy in Milton Keynes and also worked at £38,853-a-year fee-paying public school Stowe.
He has a history of sneaking into high profile events – such as, in 2022, gatecrashing the Brit Awards at the O2 arena in London by putting on a chef’s hat and apron to pose as a fake cook and sneak in through the VIP entrance.
He strolled into the VIP area where he chatted with YouTuber KSI and ended up on ITV after sitting at a table behind comedian Mo Gilligan.
He then headed to an after-party and was photographed with Arsenal and England footballer Bukayo Saka.
Lizwani also travelled to Paris that year where he dressed in mechanics overalls to sneak into the side door and gatecrash the FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony, before being caught by security and thrown out of the building.
He also crashed the British Fashion Awards in 2021 and the MOBO Awards that same year.
Additionally, his YouTube videos detail how he has snuck into numerous sporting events – including last year’s boxing match between Deji Olatunji and Alex Wassabi at Wembley last year, where he was seen celebrating in the ring afterwards.
He also got into the charity Soccer Aid game in 2021, a match featuring Wayne Rooney and Usain Bolt held at the City of Manchester Stadium and which raised more than £38million in aid for UNICEF.
Lizwani made his way into Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane stadium in 2018 for a fixture against Watford, posing outside the ground with Spurs player Erik Lamela while revealing his name as Raphy Lizwa in the accompanying YouTube video.
The footage had the caption: ‘I tried to just walk through a gate again pretending that I worked there and it worked.
‘ADD SNAP TO FIND OUT WHEN I DO ANOTHER VIDEO LIKE THIS. raphy.lizwa.’
Admirers have been responding to his BAFTAs stunt by commenting positively on his previous TikTok videos, including his latest from last year about getting into the Reading Festival.
One response posted on Sunday night read: ‘So we’re all here after what happened.’
Other fans wrote comments such as ‘Only lizwani can pull dis off’, ‘No way u did that’ and ‘He just be sneaking in every where’.
MailOnline has approached him for comment.
A Stowe School spokesperson said: ‘We don’t have any record of that person working at Stowe School – I can’t throw any light on why his Facebook profile has us listed.’
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Aidan Radnedge
