Defiant Daniel O'Reilly hits back

Daniel O’Reilly has said he was ‘bullied’ out of performing as Dapper Laughs – and that his freedom of speech was ‘100 per cent’ violated by the media campaign against him.

He said he was ‘forced’ to go on Newsnight to kill off the character because his family were being harassed at the height of the storm surrounding his sexist humour.

Yet he said the character will now be coming back because he was popular, and he didn’t want to be cowed by media pressure.

November’s Newsnight interview came after a video emerged of him telling an audience at his live show that a woman was ‘gagging for a rape’. His tour was pulled amid protests that he was promoting rape culture and ITV2 decided not to renew his series Dapper Laughs On The Pull.

In a new interview with Radio 1’s Newsbeat, O’Reilly addressed that notorious gig video – and said he was only repeating into the microphone what another woman in the audience told him – that her friend was ‘gagging for a rape’.

He said of the coverage at the time: ‘They bullied me… I felt it was unfair.’

‘I was absolutely blown away and shocked by the way that the media were allowed to make up stuff and fabricate a “mass hysteria” point of view around the character.

‘For instance, a lot of people reported that Dapper Laughs On The Pull was cancelled. It was only six episodes long and we never discussed whether we wanted to make a second series.

‘They then reported that my tour was cancelled. It wasn’t. I pulled my tour. I decided to stop that.’

He acknowledged that a gig at Cardiff University was axed following a petition, but said: ‘Someone from my team should not have booked me into a university that had an anti-lad culture.’

And he said that the reports of homeless charity Shelter saying they would refuse any proceeds from the sales of his single were unfair as ‘I hadn’t even appointed a homeless charity to take my donations.’

‘There was a massive whirlwind of fake media,’ he said. ‘I was just shocked that the newspapers were allowed to print things that weren’t true and create this hysteria around Dapper Laughs - and that caused everything to fall apart.’

Of the main charge against him, O’Reilly insisted: ‘I don’t make jokes about rape. I don’t find rape funny. I’ve never written a joke about rape…

His Vine videos have shown him yelling sexual comments at women on the street or from his car as he drives past, along with controversial joke such as: ‘Just show her your penis. If she cries, she’s just playing hard to get.’

He admitted that his ITV2 show was ‘littered with bad-taste humour’ but added: ‘My show was simply showing young, unconfident men how to go and talk to women. Something that with all this sexism and feminism is difficult.’

Some tweets were put to him that he admitted were ‘sexist’ but said they were just jokes that he found amusing.

O’Reilly added that there was a class element to the campaign against him. ‘I come from quite a rough background,’ he said. ‘I’m working class. I know that my humour caters for that kind of lad - but the majority of people at my show are women.’

He said that he had reversed his decision to kill off Dapper Laughs after he had time to reflect on his decision - and in the face of support from his 2.5million followers across social media.

‘I’m not going to be bullied out of what I like doing,’ he said. ‘I’m a bit more nervous now and a bit more careful about what I say – but I don’t want to change what he stands for. I want to take the mick out of lad culture.’

Here is the interview in full.

Published: 20 Feb 2015