On Monday night it was announced that ITV have finally seen sense, and decided to axe Dapper Laughs On The Pull, the TV show starring the controversial Vine star. However, before we start the parties and congratulate everyone for whipping up a Twitter storm, there are a few things to carefully consider.
While for many, Dapper, real name Daniel O'Reilly, appeared out of nowhere and stormed onto ITV2 with his "banter" and poor-taste, sexist 'jokes', ITV didn't actually pluck him from obscurity and decide to single-handedly turn him into a star.
On Vine, O'Reilly was already hugely popular, and at current count he has almost 600k followers, who've viewed his six-second clips over 146million times. At present, for every outraged individual who signed the petition calling for Dapper Laughs On The Pull to be axed, there are 10 people who follow him on Vine - and this is where the problem lies.
While Dapper was met with outrage just days after his show first aired, for a long time, he experienced huge success as one of Vine's budding stars. Whether we like it or not, there are thousands of people who find him funny.
If you need proof of this, check out the Twitter replies to anyone who dare query his sense of humour, or scan the comments on his videos. The question here isn't 'why did ITV2 give this misogynist a show?', instead, we need to ask how the hell he built his online following in the first place.
Yes, ITV should have known better - but what about everyone sat at home, scrolling through his social media accounts and laughing along? Shouldn't they know better than to find him funny? There's been plenty of outcry over "Dapper Laugh's brand of comedy", which gives him far too much credit. O'Reilly didn't single-handedly mastermind the development of the 'lad' character and this style of so-called humour has been around far longer than his six-second clips.
No matter how many people I delete, barely a day goes by without LadBible or UniLad appearing on my Facebook news feed, peddling ideas and jokes that would be familiar - and funny - to many of Dapper's followers. Somehow, we've ended up living in a society that contains over 600k people who have, at some point, sat down and had a chuckle at somebody who trivialises rape, harasses women in the street and is, generally speaking, nothing short of a total dickhead.
The problem is, nowadays, many 'personalities' arrive on our screens without TV companies and media outlets getting involved. While on this occasion, ITV gave Dapper what must have seemed like a helping hand, plenty of stars make it onto our laptops and phones before they do our TVs.
To avoid this situation in the future, we have to take responsibility and weed out the vile 'characters' and sexist 'humour' ourselves. If Dapper Laughs had been questioned when he posted a Vine with the script, "show her your penis, if she cries she's just playing hard to get" a year ago, ITV wouldn't have this problem.
Clearly, we can't rely on corporations and social media to vet hopefuls and celebrities in the making for us. Instead, we need to be more open to questioning 'jokes' posted online and flagging up offensive content when it first appears - ideally before these 'stars' get TV shows. http://ift.tt/eA8V8J
from UK Comedy - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1Eofmje
While for many, Dapper, real name Daniel O'Reilly, appeared out of nowhere and stormed onto ITV2 with his "banter" and poor-taste, sexist 'jokes', ITV didn't actually pluck him from obscurity and decide to single-handedly turn him into a star.
On Vine, O'Reilly was already hugely popular, and at current count he has almost 600k followers, who've viewed his six-second clips over 146million times. At present, for every outraged individual who signed the petition calling for Dapper Laughs On The Pull to be axed, there are 10 people who follow him on Vine - and this is where the problem lies.
While Dapper was met with outrage just days after his show first aired, for a long time, he experienced huge success as one of Vine's budding stars. Whether we like it or not, there are thousands of people who find him funny.
If you need proof of this, check out the Twitter replies to anyone who dare query his sense of humour, or scan the comments on his videos. The question here isn't 'why did ITV2 give this misogynist a show?', instead, we need to ask how the hell he built his online following in the first place.
Yes, ITV should have known better - but what about everyone sat at home, scrolling through his social media accounts and laughing along? Shouldn't they know better than to find him funny? There's been plenty of outcry over "Dapper Laugh's brand of comedy", which gives him far too much credit. O'Reilly didn't single-handedly mastermind the development of the 'lad' character and this style of so-called humour has been around far longer than his six-second clips.
No matter how many people I delete, barely a day goes by without LadBible or UniLad appearing on my Facebook news feed, peddling ideas and jokes that would be familiar - and funny - to many of Dapper's followers. Somehow, we've ended up living in a society that contains over 600k people who have, at some point, sat down and had a chuckle at somebody who trivialises rape, harasses women in the street and is, generally speaking, nothing short of a total dickhead.
The problem is, nowadays, many 'personalities' arrive on our screens without TV companies and media outlets getting involved. While on this occasion, ITV gave Dapper what must have seemed like a helping hand, plenty of stars make it onto our laptops and phones before they do our TVs.
To avoid this situation in the future, we have to take responsibility and weed out the vile 'characters' and sexist 'humour' ourselves. If Dapper Laughs had been questioned when he posted a Vine with the script, "show her your penis, if she cries she's just playing hard to get" a year ago, ITV wouldn't have this problem.
Clearly, we can't rely on corporations and social media to vet hopefuls and celebrities in the making for us. Instead, we need to be more open to questioning 'jokes' posted online and flagging up offensive content when it first appears - ideally before these 'stars' get TV shows. http://ift.tt/eA8V8J
from UK Comedy - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1Eofmje
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