A petition to cancel ITV’s On The Pull show has secured an astonishing number of signatures in just two days.
At time of publishing, almost 30,000 people had added their names to the online document, all of them urging ITV to pull the show headed by “lad comedian” Dapper Laughs.
The petition was started in response to Dapper's - real name Daniel O'Reilly - ITV2 show On The Pull, in which he gives what can only be loosely described as dating “advice” to men, (for example: "Just show her your penis. If she cries, she's just playing hard to get" and "remember, its only sexual harassment if she's more attractive then you"), trivialises rape and encourages gross misogyny.
Dapper Laughs is the 'star' of ITV2's On The Pull
Londoner Tom Zephyr, 26, wrote to ITV boss Adam Crozier, accusing it of normalising everyday sexism “under the guise of harmless comedy.”
He wrote: “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.”
As of Monday, Zephyr had updated the petition, stating: “ITV’s Adam Crozier will [presumably] soon be calling an internal meeting to discuss their response. Hopefully they will do so appropriately and in a timely manner by cancelling Dapper Laughs: On The Pull.”
ITV have defended their decision to give Dapper a platform, insisting: “Dapper's pulling tips are firmly based on treating women with respect and speaking to them in the right way and this is the message he gives to all singles on the show during the series.
“We realise that all humour is subjective and accept that Dapper’s humour is more risqué but we feel that his unique brand of banter and brash charm is neither sexist nor degrading to women and that his approach to pulling is based on displaying the right attitude to women in order to succeed.”
Zephyr has branded ITV’s comments as “ridiculous”, adding: “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.”
With said album featuring gems such as “Proper Moist” (sample lyric: “I’ll track ya down right/ I’ll fuck your mum” and “If she’s looking at you and playing with her hair by the end of the night she’ll need a wheelchair”), it came as little surprise to learn the charity turned its back on the prospect.
SEE ALSO:
And in an astonishing turnaround, it has emerged Shelter received close to £4,000, after Us Vs Th3m encouraged people to make donations for every track they didn’t listen to from the album.
As for Dapper, he’s issued an apology (of sorts).
On Saturday he released this statement: "I know that there has been a heated commentary on social media in recent days, online abuse of any kind is wrong.
"Therefore I would like to say a few words to make my views clear. Some comedians push the boundaries in the name of entertainment. That means taking risks.
"But I think it's important that if we overstep the mark and cause upset that we apologise. I would like to say sorry to those people who I have upset by my recent comments.
"I assure them that was not my intention."