Dapper Laughs admits being 'terrified' for his daughters' safety after 'dangerous' rape joke
Dapper Laughs has admitted to being 'terrified' for his daughters' safety after making his 'dangerous' rape joke.
The comedian - whose real name is Daniel O'Reilly - hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2014 after making a controversial on-stage joke.
He followed this by telling a female audience member that she was 'gagging for rape', which led to him almost losing his career entirely and semi-retiring his character.
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In the wake of the backlash, the 38-year-old lost his ITV2 show Dapper Laughs: On The Pull and cancelled his UK tour dates.
Since then, he's changed direction and recently started Menace to Sobriety, a podcast dedicated to men's mental health as well as addiction and sobriety.
But the repercussions of his past life continue to make an impact, especially as he's now a father to two daughters, six-year-old Neve and four-year-old Roux, who he shares with wife Shelley Rae.
Speaking with the Daily Star, O'Reilly explained: "I can't change the things that I spoke about and found funny when I was younger.
"I was an immature lad and Dapper Laughs was a satire of lad culture and sometimes that image was taken too far and it could very much have influenced people in the wrong way.
"But I was a different person and I didn't have children. I didn't have a family and I didn't have two daughters.
"I was a right k***head back then."
He added: "When I look back on it now I cringe at it, and it is embarrassing.
"And now when I look back, I can see why people that were older than me, that had daughters and women found it offensive."
As for his family, the comedian told the outlet that he's 'terrified' about his young daughters entering the real world and has learned a lot about the error of his ways.
"I learned a lot from there about what was going on in the world with sexual harassment, sexual violence and and what women have to put up with, and now I'm terrified," he said.
"I'm terrified about having two daughters and sending them out into the into the world because it's a scary horrible place.
"So if I could turn back time, knowing what I know now, then yeah maybe I would have done things differently.
"Having daughters has opened my eyes to how dangerous some of my content could have been."
Daisy Phillipson