Daniel O’Reilly, who plays the character ‘Dapper Laughs’, has issued the following statement on social media about the current controversy and accusations of misogyny: “I know there has been 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 over step 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.” 

The apology follows an increasing number of objections to the comedian, whose recent ITV2 series On The Pull was described by writer/comedian Lee Kern as a “rapist’s almanac”.

Last week a forthcoming gig at Cardiff University was cancelled. Over 700 students signed a petition which dubbed Dapper Laughs “sexist and inappropriate” and demanded that his show should not be staged at the union’s Y Plas venue in February.

Help The Homeless charity Shelter has stated that it would not accept donations derived from sales of O’Reilly’s album Proper Naughty Christmas. Shelter's CEO Campbell Robb told Radio1’s Newsbeat: "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 apology has not been well-received in the comedy community either. It was seen by some as a desperate attempt to backtrack by O’Reilly to save his career. There was also a discussion about what the difference was between comedy character “Dapper Laughs” and Daniel O’Reilly. 

There is currently a petition circulating asking ITV2 to cancel the proposed second series of On The Pull. It has received over 10,000 signatures so far and can be signed here.