Dapper Laughs Is 'Respectful' To Women, According To ITV

ITV's Response To The Dapper Laughs Row Will Probably Make Your Blood Boil
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ITV have defended their decision to give "lad comedian" Dapper Laughs a platform, despite accusations he is trivialising rape and gross misogyny with "banter-based cretinism".

A concerned member of the public, who wrote to the broadcaster to complain that they are giving "direct endorsement of sexual assault", has sent the Huffington Post UK the channel's response - and it's arguably more laughable than the content produced on their "comedy" show.

If you are still blissfully oblivious to Dapper's talents, the controversial "Cockney", who comes from Woking in Surrey, is the proud star of ITV 2's 'On The Pull' and gathered fame by being a "proper lad" on Vine.

He also has an album, produced by Sony, out for Christmas and is embarking on a nation-wide tour from December. One chart-flopping disaster, called "Proper Moist," contains pearls of wisdom with lyrics such as "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".

But ITV have argued that Dapper, who encourages unprotected sex and “normalises” sexual harassment in the name of #bantz, is "respectful" to women and is in fact helping men learn how to "pull."

Here is their response:

Dapper’s persona resolves around him being a self-styled “pulling magnet” and offering his dating prowess to members of the public as he helps others, and himself, to pull.

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 the singles on the show during the series.

We realise that all humour is subjective and accept that Dapper’s humour is more risqué but feel that his unique brand of banter and brash charm is neither sexist or degrading to women and that his approach to pulling is based on displaying the right attitude to women in order to succeed.

It's worth noting that this response is regarding a man who recently tweeted: "Remember, its only sexual harassment if she's more attractive then you".

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Dapper Laughs

And if even a charity won’t take your money you should probably be taking a long hard look at yourself.

In his effort to help the homeless, one song on Dapper's album called A Walk To The Pub.. With A Tramp he tells a homeless man he "smells of shit".

Additionally, on his Twitter feed he has sent posts including: "Just gave my number to a homeless woman (cracking boobs tho, not sure if her top was low cut or just ripped) closed with: your place or mine."

Shelter's CEO Campbell Robb said in a statement: "The fact that 90,000 children will wake up homeless this Christmas is no joke.

"Dapper Laughs's brand of 'comedy' - which is deeply offensive about homeless people, not to mention many others - is something we felt it was important to take a stand against.

"The support from the public has been overwhelming and we've seen a fantastic rise in donations as a result, meaning Shelter can help even more people this Christmas."

Shelter has instead started to receive donations from supporters who are in agreement with the charity's decision to reject any money raised.

The row escalated this week after Dapper responded to a critical review online that described his album as a "really sad… cry for help".

Website Us Vs Them highlighted that if you play the album on Spotify, each stream earns about $0.007 per play - less than half a penny, or £0.004.

The publication pointed out that in the "unlikely event" that the general public were to listen to 10,000 Dapper Laughs songs – the cash raised would only be £40.

The editor of the website aptly responded by personally donating £14 to Homeless charity Shelter, or "£1 for every crap track on Dapper’s album" - and the equivalent of listening to the album 250 times.

The publication then encouraged their readers to do the same saying: "Why not donate £1 to Shelter for every track you don’t listen to from Dapper’s album?"

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In response Dapper, then encouraged his followers to target the Us Vs Them journalist behind his album review and tell the publication to "fuck off".

So here, just to give you an idea of the kind of people Dapper is supported by, are some examples of how his fans responded, by calling the author a "slag" and a "whore."

In short, he wrote, the entire oeuvre of Dapper Laughs "represents an avalanche of brainlessness bilging over 21st Century culture like a soft wave of WKD-infused phlegm. His belligerent sexism and veneration of anti-intellectualism is the clarion call of a people shovelling themselves into the excrement of history."

The strongly-worded blog shamed ITV2 by stating that in producing such work "you despise your mums. You despise your daughters. You despise your sisters. You despise your wives. You despise women everywhere if you have helped play a part in allowing this rat-tousled, fuck-spiv to have a platform to pump shit into British society.

"If I could sum everything up in one go it would be this: We don't work in an industry that is somehow separate from reality. What we do is not 'just telly'. We are helping to shape the reality we live in. What we put on the screen has a real world effect. And this show contributes to a culture of abuse that degrades us all - men and women - boys and girls."

Writing in the Telegraph, TV critic Michael Hogan also criticised Dapper's approach: "He’s also downright dangerous: legitimising cat-calling, street harassment, manipulative 'pick-up artist' misogyny and the predatory pursuit of 'banging fit birds' to 'ruin them'.

"Dapper’s no laughing matter. He’s deeply offensive to women and doing all men a disservice."

More recently the comedian was banned from performing at Cardiff University following a petition by students to cancel his gig.

Student Vicky Chandler set up a petition to get the comedian's gig cancelled, and it has since been signed by more than 700 people.

Chandler wrote on change.org: "As a woman of Cardiff University, I cannot believe a man whose jokes centre around the trivialisation of rape, unprotected sex and dehumanising women, is allowed a soap box for his misogyny inside the walls of an academic establishment that claims to protect the rights of its students.

"Misogynistic humour should not be supported by an organisation that stands for equality."