Comic complains of press treatment

Dapper Laughs has complained that the furore around his laddish humour cost him more than £100,000.

The comedian, real name Daniel O'Reilly, blamed the media for 'stirring up' outrage from 'rape crisis groups and feminists' which cost him his lucrative tour.

He cancelled a string of dates late last year after being accused of 'promoting rape culture'; a storm that was fuelled when footage emerged of him telling a girl at a gig that she was 'gagging for a rape'. O'Reilly later claimed he was merely repeating a comment from her pal. He apologised for causing offence in a contrite Newsnight interview and vowed to kill of the alter-ego – but six week later revived it.

Now in what he called 'one of the most personal interviews I've ever done', O'Reilly said the media scrutiny was 'heartbreaking'.

O'Reilly told Stephen Nolan on BBC Radio 5 Live last night, said: 'I'm the sort of person – you can ask anyone that knows me – I try to love everyone up, I try to stay out of arguments and stuff like that. And help people

'It was painful for the people around me because they know I don't think like that and the most heartbreaking thing is that the way they were writing about me in the media was stirring up such opinion from other rape crisis groups and feminists and stuff that my family were going, 'What has happened?"

'I lost everything. I lost a six-figure sum two days later on an almost like an 80 per cent sold out tour of the whole UK, you know what I mean?

'My world fell apart around me in three days. It was horrible. '

O'Reilly – whose ITV2 show On The Pull was dropped amid the furore, as well as disappointing ratings – also said his misogynist reputation was unfounded, generated by journalists he had annoyed.

'I've never written a joke about rape yet I'm the most prolific pro-rape comedian at the moment in the UK,' he complained. '[It's] because of the way these journalists, after I annoyed them, they went through the internet they found the footage. No one sent that footage in. Fifteen thousand people watched me perform last year, and I didn't receive one complaint from anyone that saw it live, so it's completely blown out of proportion.

'Sorry if I sound as if I feel pent-up about it, but I lost everything over that.' .

He has previously complained of being 'bullied' by the media, who 'violated' his freedom of speech in campaigning against him.

The blow to O'Reilly's career has been short-lived. He is currently on a new tour, has a DVD out next month and – as Chortle revealed last week – is currently working on a film.

Dapper Laugh's controversial tweets included: 'Remember, it's only sexual harassment if she's more attractive than you.'

Published: 5 Oct 2015