Yes, Dapper Laughs really did just come out and call himself a feminist

Dapper Laughs, the comedian who once told an audience member she looked like she was "gagging for a rape", has said in an interview that he's actually a feminist.

Speaking to feminist campaigner and journalist Caroline Criado-Perez in a video for On Demand News, the questionably funny comedian who made his name on Vine said:

Of course. Equal rights for men and women... If you'd ask me if I consider myself a feminist, then yeah.

Dapper (real name Daniel O'Reilly) said that when he was making his previous brand of comedy he didn't understand the extent of gendered harassment and violence.

Some of my [Vine] videos overstepped the mark a little bit. Maybe I wasn't as conscious as I should have been about the message I was putting out...

I didn't realise how much women have to deal with sexual advances and sexual harassment on an average day to day basis.

He said he hopes to educate his fans on such matters in future.

Dapper's ITV2 show was cancelled last year after he was recorded at a live gig telling an audience member she looked like she was "gagging for a rape".

He ended up publicly apologising for the joke on Newsnight because of the strain the attention was putting on his family.

Speaking to Criado-Perez, Dapper said that "the pure [ferocity] of abuse" he got over the comment was very difficult to deal with, and maintained that the joke was taken out of context.

"The media had portrayed me as the UK's 'pro rape' comedian", he said.

In an interview with the Sunday Times Magazine (£) a few months ago, Dapper said that his objectifying jokes about women were actually aimed at men's insecurities. He the contradicted himself by adding that society had failed to educate him on why sexual violence isn't funny.

More: Dapper Laughs thinks society has failed him, is to blame for his rape jokes