More than 45,000 people have signed a petition calling on ITV chief executive Adam Crozier to axe the controversial comedy show Dapper Laughs: On The Pull.
The comedian Daniel O’Reilly, who gives laddish advice on how to “pull birds” under the guise of a deliberately provocative character in the ITV2 series, has proved controversial for lines such as “Just show her your penis. If she cries, she’s just playing hard to get” and “If she’s looking at me and playing with her hair, by the end of the night she’ll need a wheelchair”.
The petition calls on ITV to can the programme, claiming: “O’Reilly’s work frequently depicts real-life harassment of women and in his new show he offers dating tips to members of the public inspired by his misogynistic views, all under the guise of harmless comedy.
“O’Reilly’s attitudes towards women, and ITV’s backing in particular, are far from harmless however: because ITV has granted O’Reilly the massive exposure and credibility of its platform, everyday sexism is being normalised for both young men and women.”
The petition - backed by 46,090 supporters at the time of publication - goes on: “This has to stop. Sexual harassment and borderline threatening behaviour towards women must never be defended as either comedy or “harmless banter”, nor should young men and women be encouraged to regard sexist behaviour as socially acceptable.”
“It is time for ITV to follow its own responsibility policy and recognize that it has a duty not to aid the spread of sexism as seen in “Dapper Laughs: On The Pull”. This insight should lead to the show’s cancellation and should also be applied to all future content decisions.”
The last episode of the current series of the show aired on 7 November and drew an average audience of 119,000.
It is not yet known if a second series will be commissioned.
Former cruise ship entertainer O’Reilly come to prominence via Vine. But public criticism of his character led homeless charity Shelter to announce it will not take any donations from revenue raised by his charity Christmas album.
An ITV spokesman said: “Dapper Laughs: On The Pull features an established internet comedy character created by Daniel O’Reilly. ITV2 commissioned a show in which this character is placed within a recognisable TV format, a dating advice show.
“Comedy is subjective and we appreciate the content of the show might not be to everyone’s taste. We regret that any of our viewers were offended. However, as with all of our shows, the series content was carefully considered, complied and deemed suitable for broadcast.”
Ofcom said it had received 37 complaints about the show from viewers who thought it was degrading to women.
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