Love Actually actor Bill Nighy has reportedly been caught up in the controversy surrounding Meta’s so-called “pervert glasses” after a YouTube prankster secretly recorded an encounter with him.
The 76-year-old star is said to have been left “unsettled” after meeting social media influencer Jack Jones, who was wearing Ray-Ban smart glasses equipped with a discreet camera.
Jones, who became known for staging fake phone calls, approached Nighy outside a London café and struck up a conversation that was filmed without the actor’s consent.
The footage was later uploaded to Jones’ YouTube channel, which has around 500,000 subscribers.
In the video, Jones can be seen wearing the smart glasses, developed by the company behind Facebook, as he calls out to Nighy outside the café. “Excuse me, Bill, I’m going to have to report you,” he says.
The confused double-Bafta winner replies: “For?”
“For being the best actor in the world,” Jones jokes before continuing to ask Nighy questions about his personal life.
A source close to Nighy described the influencer’s conduct as “very unpleasant and disrespectful”.
Bill Nighy, 76, is said to have been left “unsettled” after an encounter with social media influencer Jack Jones, who was wearing controversial Ray-Ban smart glasses fitted with a tiny camera
Jack Jones, who became known for making fake phone calls, approached Nighy outside a London café and recorded their conversation without the actor’s consent
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This is not the first time Jones has approached Nighy at what appears to be the same café.
In a separate video posted two years ago, Jones startled the actor from behind by shouting, “Good afternoon, Philip” — a reference to Nighy’s character in the 2004 comedy Shaun Of The Dead.
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Nighy jumps up in shock and walks away, but Jones continues recording while repeatedly asking, “Where is Shaun, Philip?”
Viewers strongly criticised the stunt, with comments describing it as “vile” and “a horrible thing to do”.
A year later, Jones posted another video titled “Me and Bill Nighy have squashed the beef”, in which he presented the actor with flowers as an apparent apology.
The use of Meta smart glasses to record people without their knowledge or consent has faced widespread criticism.
Although the glasses have been used by online content creators, critics say they have also been exploited by stalkers and harassers, leading to the nickname “pervert glasses”.
A number of venues and businesses, including Wetherspoon pubs, theatres and schools, have banned the devices.
In August, ministers in Australia and Norway revealed they were considering banning and regulating wearable gadgets with cameras.
Jones, 33, made his name in the mid-2010s for prank videos that included honking horns behind people in the street and telling people they had a spider on their shoulder.
Responding to the latest video of Nighy, Jones insisted that he had the actor’s consent to upload the recording.
He said: ‘I approached Bill while I was filming content using the Meta glasses.
‘I explained that I had been filming and showed him the type of content I create, which is mainly positive videos involving flowers, kindness and doing nice things for people.
‘Bill was very nice about it and seemed to like what I was doing. There was no intention to make him look bad or embarrass him in any way.
‘The whole purpose of my content is to create positive moments and spread a bit of kindness, and that’s exactly the context of the interaction.’