Mrs Brown’s Boys star Brendan O’Carroll’s racist joke is revealed
Mrs Brown’s Boys star Brendan O’Carroll ‘implied’ the N-word during rehearsals for the show’s Christmas special, the Daily Mail has learnt.
The show has become embroiled in a racism row after O’Carroll alluded to the highly offensive slur in front of shocked co-stars and production staff.
During a reading of the script while in character as Agnes Brown, O’Carroll is said to have said ‘I don’t call a spade a spade, I call a spade a…’
He then started to utter the N-word before he was stopped by a co-star, whose intervention was allegedly delivered while in character as Agnes’ daughter.
O’Carroll’s representative told the Mail last night: ‘We would also like to clarify that the “n” word was absolutely not spoken, it was implied.
Brendan O’Carroll says he ‘deeply regrets clumsy line’ after making a ‘racist’ joke during rehearsals for the Christmas specials of Mrs Brown’s Boys
In 2020, it was confirmed that the BBC had signed a deal with Brendan to guarantee new Christmas specials until at least 2026
It comes after Mrs Brown’s Boys won a National Television Award for Best Comedy last month
‘Agnes (Mrs Brown) began the word but was stopped from finishing it by her daughter Cathy, as she knew she would be.’
Reports that O’Carroll made a ‘racial joke’ first surfaced in the Daily Mirror.
The new revelation raises questions about the BBC’s initial handling of the incident.
In initial statements about the incident, neither the BBC nor O’Carroll acknowledged the severity of the offensive slur.
Cast and crew were reportedly stood down while the corporation ‘tried to get to the bottom’ of what happened.
The rehearsals then resumed in Glasgow at the broadcaster’s Pacific Quay studios in Scotland and shows will go ahead as planned.
The BBC said: ‘Whilst we don’t comment on individuals, the BBC is against all forms of racism, and we have robust processes in place should issues ever arise.’
O’Carroll, 69, apologised for making a ‘clumsy attempt at a joke’ in character as Mrs Brown where a ‘racial term was implied’.
The Irish comedian, 69, (pictured on ITV’s This Morning in 2022) was in the role of Agnes Brown when he made the offensive remark which ‘backfired’ and ’caused offence’
O’Carroll, winner of the Comedy Award for his role in Mrs Brown’s Boys, at the National Television Awards at the O2 Arena in September
The TV star famously employs his family to appear alongside him, with his wife Jennifer Gibney starring as his on-screen daughter Cathy (left, alongside Rory Cowan and Pat Shields)
His full statement said: ‘At a read-through of the Mrs. Brown’s Boys Christmas specials, there was a clumsy attempt at a joke, in the character of Agnes, where a racial term was implied. It backfired and caused offence which I deeply regret and for which I have apologised.’
Those who witnessed the remark were reportedly left ‘shocked’ by the slur which was ‘flagged with the BBC afterwards’.
Mrs Brown’s Boys has been a regular feature on the BBC’s Christmas schedules for more than a decade.
The show has also had several mini-series runs, including a four-part series last year, which was the first since 2013.
In the programme O’Carroll’s character, who is known affectionately as ‘mammy’ in the series, is a foul-mouthed Irish mother.
O’Carroll is also slated to star in new BBC sitcom Shedites and will touch on ‘men’s mental health’ and is due to hit screens by ‘the fall’.
The new BBC programme will star iconic funnyman Tommy Cannon, 86, who previously starred in The Cannon and Ball Show, as the leading character.
The episodes are being filmed in Glasgow at the BBC’s Pacific Quay studios.
