Morning TV stalwart Jeremy Kyle has been forced to lambast his own audience for laughing at a victim of domestic abuse.
Guests Geoff and Danni were in the show's studio to discuss the paternity of their children and a string of alleged incidents in which Danni was abusive, unfaithful and violent.
Geoff was on Jeremy's stage telling of how he was forced to jump from a three storey balcony by his abusive ex-girlfriend, when the audience started to laugh at his misfortune.
Geoff and his current girlfriend Jess
"It’s not funny though, is it?" Kyle jumped in. "I don’t want to upset anyone in the audience but if a woman was sat here and a bloke had locked her in a flat and she’d been forced to jump out and injure herself you lot would not be laughing.
"You would be saying he is a total nightmare, he should be locked up and this is disgraceful. Just because it happened to a bloke it is not funny."
Shown from the backstage green room, Danni could be seen nodding when Geoff said she had hit him, but later denied locking Geoff in his flat and forcing him to jump from a balcony.
Geoff's ex-girlfriend Danni, who was allegedly abusive and unfaithful
The show went on, allowing Danni to reveal her side of the story. She claimed Geoff had once "hit her in the boob". When those crucial DNA test results came in, the pair found out Geoff was the father of Danni's babies.
"People wonder if these men are being abused why they don't report it," one commenter posted on Reddit. "This right here is why. But even this is not how bad it can get.
"A buddy of mine called an domestic abuse hotline and even though his ex-girlfriend broke his arm and beat him nearly every day the person on the phone told him that he must be the abusive one.
"There are many men with the same story. Either being laughed at, made out as the abuser or arrested by the very police they called for help because in some states it is mandatory to arrest the male on a DV call."
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Chairman of male domestic violence charity ManKind Mark Brooks says when a man is a victim of domestic abuse, he'll often display a loss of confidence and seem uncharacteristically nervous. He'll also likely become far more insular and will gradually become cut off from his social circle.
"A male victim's behaviour will change in the same way a woman's does when she is a victim, but society - friends, family, work colleagues, even GPs - is more attuned to thinking that a change in a woman’s behaviour could be a sign of domestic abuse, than if a man changes his behaviour."
While women are the majority gender that suffer at the hands of domestic violence - the ratio is less of a gulf than you might think.
In England and Wales 38% of domestic abuse victims are male - for every five victims, three will be female, two will be male.
In Scotland between 2012 and 2013 there were over 60,000 incidents of domestic abuse reported to the police. Of these, over 10,000 were recorded by the police as having a male victim.
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If you've been affected by any issues discussed, you can visit ManKind.org.uk or call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90.