Katherine Ryan yesterday revealed she confronted a “comic” about his “dangerous” behaviour but said she received “no reaction”. The Canadian comedian spoke about how she called out the man to his face – who she did not name.
Appearing on Desert Island Discs, the mother of three, 40, addressed why she continued to work alongside someone she described as a “perpetrator of sexual assault”.
Speaking on the Radio 4 programme, she said: “I had a choice. I could go to work with someone who I believe to be a perpetrator of sexual assault or I could turn down the job. Those were my options. And so I wrestled with that. I thought ‘what am I meant to do in this instance?’”
It is widely believed that Katherine was referring to Russell Brand. She reportedly called out the entertainer to his face while filming comedy show Roast Battle five years ago.
Last month Brand, 48, was accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013 when he was working for the BBC, Channel 4 and in Hollywood films.
READ MORE Katherine Ryan claims there’s a ‘dangerous comic’ in British showbusiness
A number of women have made complaints to the police after four women made allegations in a joint probe by Channel 4’s Dispatches and the Sunday Times.
Further claims have since been made. Brand strenuously denies all allegations, insisting all of his relationships were consensual. Katherine stressed she had never been assaulted. She also told host Lauren Laverne: “The choices – ‘do I go to work with someone I think is very problematic, do I stand near them and laugh and smile and look like I am allowing this kind of person to still be on TV?’ Or – ‘do I stay home?’ – was really difficult for me.
“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 ‘I am going to go’ but I am going to let him know under no uncertain terms what I think of him.
“I am not going to let him think I don’t know and that everyone he works with is just going to let him get away with it. He didn’t have much of a reaction. Did I do the right thing or the wrong thing? I still don’t know.”
The Desert Island Discs episode, which was recorded on September 6 before the Dispatches documentary aired, heard Ryan recount her journey from Sarnia in Ontario, Canada, where she worked as a waitress, to being a leading light in British comedy.
Last year, in an interview with Louis Theroux, she told for the first time about confronting a male comedian over allegations of predatory behaviour. That too was thought to be a reference to Brand. Asked why she spoke out, Ryan said: “I got pushback: ‘why don’t you say who it is because everyone knows who it is?’ What they are asking me is for women’s names and that’s what I won’t give.”
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