DOES DAPPER LAUGHS REALLY MAKE US LAUGH?

Hey there my lovely readers,

I'm going to be talking about something a little different today. Unless you've been living under a tree in the middle of nowhere for the last few months, I'm sure you're all aware of this whole stint with so called comedian and Viner 'Dapper Laughs', real name Daniel O'Reilly. Please don't feel offended by anything I write it's just my personal opinion and I do understand and welcome other ideas on the subject. 

At first I didn't quite understand the whole excitement and hype about vines and quite frankly, after watching a few clips I was a little annoyed with the fact that some of these Viners are becoming 'stars' from these silly homemade videos. Lots of them now even have their own merchandise and clothing lines out, displaying their famous tag lines or slogans. I think its utterly ridiculous if you ask me, especially as actor's like myself bust our ass's off in drama school to be noticed for our talents and these kids are getting noticed for doing what exactly? It doesn't really makes sense to me, but anyways enough with my rant.


These vines had become such a craze that after a while I began to think, if you can't beat them, you may as well join them. So that's what I did and after watching a handful of these videos I did start to kind of see the appeal, as some of then were rather humorous.
One day whilst flicking through the app on my phone, I came across a vine for the first time by British comedian Dapper Laughs. In this vine he was shouting something really inappropriate and sexual to a random woman walking down the street. I was a little confused, is this supposed to be funny? I didn't quite get it, but I left it be in the end, not really thinking much about it. I then came across another one of his vines a few days later showing Dapper making another inappropriate comment to the camera, but this time it was a joke about rape. I stared on in shock for a moment, can someone actually get away with saying things like this. I was horrified that someone would make a joke about such a sensitive matter. Rape is a touchy subject, it would be unacceptable to joke about the holocaust, where terrifyingly six million Jews were murdered or paedophilia or even murder and body mutilation, so why would you choose to use the subject rape? These are all things you just don't joke about, especially in this sort of manner.

Now don't worry I'm not going to turn all feminist on you because I'd be making the exact same comments if it was the other way round and a woman was acting like this. I'm also not usually a sensitive person and in fact I enjoy a satirical and self-decapitating type of humour. I do, however, feel this is taken by extreme in Dapper's case and does need to be addressed by society as a serious matter.

I came across a situation myself that made me come to the conclusion that Dapper Laughs had to stop. I was walking down the street on my way to work a couple of weeks ago and I heard two young boys probably around the age of fifteen mimicking a rape joke from Dapper Laughs. They turn to a young girl, directing this comment at her and then bursting out in fits of laughter. She looked at them in shock, then hastily walked off with her head down. I was horrified to hear this from two young boys and it made me sick to my stomach. I could tell the girl felt extremely uncomfortable and was embarrassed by the comment. I understand that Dapper's a comedian and he is probably a nice guy in real life, but even comedians need to know where to draw the line. The main thing that worries me is I don't think Dapper seems to understand his younger more impressionable audience see him as a role model and what he says and does has a massive effect on them.  As a slightly older generation with younger cousins, I wouldn't want to see any of my cousins or friend's brothers growing up thinking that is sort of behaviour is appropriate.

I think sometimes people do things without really thinking about the outcome and forget how our actions affect one another. I for one, luckily have never been raped or even know anyone who has been through this, which is why I cannot directly connect with this evil transgression. But imagine if some young girl had been raped or molested or had a friend or family member who had been and it had ruined their life. Just imagine how traumatic that would be for them to hear someone joke so insensitively about the topic. I know I wouldn't like it. 

I have never actually seen O'Reilly's show on ITV, but I think it's probably a good job it has been axed. It is one thing to create your own vines, but it's another to form a television show around this profanity. 

In an interview with the BBC Newsnight on the 12th of November, O'Reilly admits '...he got a bit carried away with the character Dapper Laughs' (O'Reilly 2014) and when the reporter asks him to identify with his character now, he replies 'if it was the first time I'd seen that kind of comedy I would think the character is not setting a good example' (O'Reilly 2014). O'Reilly did seem to express his regret for unintentionally hurting anyone. I do believe his intentions were genuine, but the consequences of his actions speak for themselves. He also claims that Dapper Laughs is no longer and he will not be promoting his character anymore. I know he will be missed by some fans but I'm sure they'll get over it when someone new comes along. I think his fifteen minutes of fame is finally coming to an end. I don't believe he's a bad guy, I just think he's a normal guy that made a mistake. I guess we all make mistakes but let's just hope he's learnt from this and doesn't make the same one again.

People will always have their opposing views but that's fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and this is mine. 

Comment to have your say!!

check out the interview with BBC Newsnight here

Have a nice day!! 

Daniel O'Reilly as Dapper Laughs (Picture Source: mtv.co.uk: 2014)