Dapper Laughs has choked on his last with ITV

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ver the last few weeks, Dapper Laughs – real name Daniel O’Reilly – has really hit the headlines. I’m sure I don’tneed to tell anyone why. Suffice to say, he’s not the greatest example of feminism that we have in today’s society. But what’s confusing was ITV’s original determination to stand by someone accused of using “banter” as a veil for his misogyny.

What’s worrying is that someone so cretinous, who had built a career by catcalling women, was being endorsed by a major network. When someone complained, ITV had the
nerve to insist that he was “respectful” to women. In the same sentence, they claimed he’s just helping men to “pull” women. Nobody actually tries to ‘pull’ someone these days. Doing so implies the object of your affections is just that. Not a person with feelings and opinions, but a vessel to be used and abused. All you have to do is lure them in.

They went on to further insist that Dapper himself was “not sexist or degrading to women.” Have they forgotten when he tweeted: “Remember, it’s only sexual harassment if she’s more attractive than you”?

Dapper represents a persistent and ugly strain of our society as someone who genuinely finds harassment funny. He encouraged people to think that shouting ‘compliments’ or dry-humping motions are acceptable, even funny.

So why was ITV continuing to support him? One can only assume that Dapper’s fanbase represents a demographic that hasn’t quite figured out how to turn the TV on. Before anyone hails Dapper as a working-class hero, don’t. Equating misogyny with the working-class is offensive, and downplays the society-wide problem we have with equal rights, no matter how much we like to dismiss it.

Luckily this odious, vile and humourless man has been banished to the realms of anonymity.

**After a series of complaints, ITV axed ‘On the Pull’ on November 10th 2014**