Frankie Boyle hits out at ‘garbled nonsense’ after claims he made Holly Willoughby rape joke-Louise Griffin-Entertainment – Metro

Frankie Boyle faced backlash for his joke (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Frankie Boyle has responded after he faced backlash for reportedly telling a joke about ‘raping Holly Willoughby’.

The Scottish comedian, who’s known for his controversial comedy, performed at Latitude Festival last weekend.

MailOnline reported that Boyle said of This Morning host Willoughby during his set: ‘I’d obviously kill her and rape her afterwards. I’m joking – I’d rape her first.’

However, Boyle said that this is ‘garbled nonsense’ and that people watching the full show would ‘struggle to be offended’.

‘More grief from the Daily Mail. The joke they “quote” is garbled nonsense, a concept and wording no comic would ever use. There is a very long routine in my current show which concludes that certain jokes are probably a product of toxic masculinity. You’d struggle to be offended,’ he wrote on Twitter.

‘Papers like the Daily Mail are outraged by “safe space” comedy and all for free speech, until it’s routines reflecting on things like stereotyping and toxic masculinity, or taking ideas into places where they can’t be used to churn out clickbait.

‘Anyway, standup is still the silliest, riskiest, most surprising art form. If you’re up in Edinburgh this year, take a punt on a new act or two and keep this madness going.’

The outlet reports that Boyle also defended his set when asked about it at a Waterstones event for his new book.

‘Can I just say, my routine about raping and f*****g Holly Willoughby was part of a very long routine about whether or not it’s OK to do a joke about that, and I look at it from both sides, there are pluses and minuses,’ he reportedly said.

Boyle reportedly added that comedy is ‘in the eye of the beholder’ and that he considers himself a mainstream comedian.

He responded to the backlash on Twitter (Picture: Getty)

The star performed to a packed-out crowd (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

A spokeswoman for the feminist campaign group FiLiA told the outlet: ‘We are horrified that some men in the entertainment industry continue to consider the abuse of women to be comedy material.

‘Seeking cheap applause at the expense of traumatising women speaks of low-quality material.

‘There is nothing funny about male violence. Women and girls around the country are not laughing.

Boyle reportedly joked about Holly Willoughby (Picture: S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

‘Instead, women are angry and scared for their safety.’

Boyle rose to fame after performing regularly on Mock The Week.

He previously hit headlines for criticising Ricky Gervais’ ‘lazy’ jokes about transgender people.

Boyle said on Grounded With Louis Theroux: ‘If you’re a stand-up watching him, you feel like, “Oh, that’s someone doing a version of what we do”.

‘But really, it’s that I saw him doing his routine about trans people and I thought it was very lazy.

‘I would like him to have the same respect for trans people as he seems to have for animals. I don’t think that’s a lot to ask.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted reps for Frankie Boyle for further comment.

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