Tag Archives: emily maitlis

One of my favourite broadcasting moments of the year…

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 12th November 2014 - 9:10 pm

It was very satisfying to see Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis demolish Daniel O’Reilly, the so-called comedian behind the controversial Dapper Laughs character. O’Reilly was axed from ITV2 following highly inappropriate material in a stage show in which the character appeared to be encouraging violence towards and rape and harassment of women.

I’ve seen a few people suggest that his comments, while distasteful, were not beyond the pale and that too much fuss has been made about it. They were men, funnily enough. I wonder how they would feel if they lived in a world where most of the powerful characters were women, where men were routinely treated as decoration for the titillation of women. Imagine how it would then feel if a woman, as part of a comedy routine, talked about forcing them to take part in sexual acts, tying them down with tape if necessary, if he said that no didn’t really mean no. If you are sceptical you should maybe try reading Laura Bates’ Everyday Sexism book which was this week placed on Waterstone’s Book of the Year list.