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A man who sparked confusion after a cloth he decorated with sex toy symbols was mistaken for an Islamic State flag has spoken out about the stunt.

Paul Coombs revealed he was approached by police after reports claimed he was carrying the flag associated with the barbaric IS militant group during the London Pride festival on Saturday.

His stunt even sparked a report on US news outlet CNN, which described the material as "a very clear attempt to mimic the ISIS flag".

But viewers soon noticed that the flag was in fact covered in pictures of sex toys, and pictures of it went viral online.

Mr Coombs today revealed the stunt was motivated by "a sense of outrage at Isis’s brutal advance across North Africa, Libya, Syria and Iraq".

"Medieval ideologies and barbarism were being spread and recorded through that most modern of expressions, social media, with that flag ever-present. It has become a potent symbol of brutality, fear and sexual oppression," he wrote in the Guardian.

"If I wanted to try and stimulate a dialogue about the ridiculousness of this ideology, the flag was key."

Mr Coombs said he planned to "gauge reaction" to the flag in the early stages of the march, in which hundreds of thousands of people took to London's streets to celebrate the LGBT community.

But after seeing his worries dissipated, he was approached by police acting after reports of the flag being seen at the march.

"Three policemen held out the flag and inspected it, grinning, acknowledging immediately that these were definitely dildos and butt plugs," Mr Coombs wrote.

"They explained that they were getting reports that a man was carrying an Isis flag through the streets, a misconception that could easily put me in danger. They asked if I would keep the flag concealed. So I put it away."

Mr Coombs added that he considered his mission accomplished after the image of the flag went viral in the wake of CNN's mistake.