Comedian Katherine Ryan has claimed that she “wrestled” with whether or not to work with a “dangerous comic.” It comes following the fallout over accusations that Russell Brand sexually assaulted a number of women.
He denies all of the claims against him. But now Katherine Ryan has said there is another comic in showbusiness who is “very problematic.”
She made the statement on BBC Radio 4’s latest Desert Island Discs. Ryan told host Lauren Laverne she once “wrestled” with whether or not to work with a “dangerous” comic, the Sun reports.
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The Canadian comic said she had to decide if she should work with “someone who I believe to be a perpetrator of sexual assault” – or turn down gigs. The mum-of-three said: “I believe this person was or is dangerous.
“I had a choice. I could go and work with someone whom I believed to be a perpetrator of sexual assault, or I could turn down the job. Those were my options. So I wrestled with that. What am I meant to do in that instance. Do I meet someone that I think these things about?”
The 40-year-old refused to name the comic, but added she had never personally had trouble with them. “No I have never been assaulted,” she said.
“The choice is do I go to work with someone who I think is very problematic and do I stand there and laugh and smile and look like I’m allowing this kind of person to still be on television or do I stay home?
“That’s what I wrestled with the most because I believe this person was or is dangerous but also what am I going to change if I stay home? So I decided, my compromise was that I’m going to go but let him know under no uncertain terms what I think of him, I’m not going to just smile and look like I’m allowing this behaviour.
“I’m not going to let him think that I don’t know and that everybody that he works with is just going to let him get away with it.”
She then decided to tell the comic what she thought of him. When Lauren asked what the man’s reaction was, Ryan said: “He didn’t have much of a reaction, I don’t know if I did it in a way that.
“I’m not sure whether he…he certainly didn’t have an obvious reaction.”
The Survivors Trust
The Survivors Trust is the largest umbrella agency for specialist rape and sexual abuse services in the UK.
Their services work with victims and survivors of all ages, all genders, of all forms of sexual violence, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, including support for partners and family members.
If you have been a victim of a sexual offence, you can call the free helpline on 08088 010 818.
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