If I dressed as Godzilla, you wouldn't think I wanted to crush Tokyo

Frankie Boyle has defended the use of racist terms in his Tramadol Nights show, saying he was merely playing characters.

‘These are phrases that a racist will use,’ he told jurors in the libel trial he is bringing against the Daily Mirror. ‘There is no way they are an endorsement of racist terminology. It is the absolute opposite of that.’

He added: ‘If I dressed up as Godzilla, people would not accuse me of wanting to crush Tokyo myself.’

Boyle was today answering questions from Mirror Group Newspaper’s barrister Ronald Thwaites QC.

He told Boyle: ‘You are punctuating your programme with racist references that some people will find clever and others will find normal and acceptable.’

Boyle is suing over an article published on July 19 last year, which called him a ‘racist comedian’ and claimed that he had been forced to quit Mock The Week.

The High Court case continues.

Published: 17 Oct 2012