Brendan O'Carroll has explained the "clumsy" joke he told during a Mrs Brown's Boys read-through where a "racial term was implied" - and admitted he is "disgusted" with himself.
The comedian issued an apology after preparation for filming this year's Christmas special was temporarily halted last month due to the incident. O'Carroll, 69, appeared on the Late Late Show this evening, and explained what went wrong with the gag.
"I like to poke fun at people, particularly those who marginalise other people," he said. "When Mrs Brown found out her son was gay, I showed how she didn't understand it.
"She now knows her son is gay and accepts it, but she doesn't understand it. I wanted to poke fun at intergenerational racism, and how Mrs Brown doesn't get it.
"She doesn't know what intergenerational racism is. [The joke] was like 'eenie meenie minie mo catch a -', and then Kathy interrupts and says 'Mammy, you can't say that'.
"We went on with the rest of the read-through. The next day we went into rehearsals and got a note from the director about the runner who was at the read-through.
"The read-throughs are about finding out what you can and can't say, there's always a BBC executive there. Everyone laughed, and at the end of it, we clapped.
"Then I found out he had been offended. So I immediately sent him an email apologising, I don't want to offend anybody, I don't want to be that guy."
O'Carroll told host Patrick Kielty that he now sees why the joke was wrong - admitting it "landed on its arse". He said: "I completely get it. If Mrs Brown is going to say blowjob, Kathy would stop her.
"I know the audience would finish [the sentence] in their head. That's what happened here, I expected them to finish it their head - but I expected it to be they realised 'oh she doesn't get it'.
"It backfired, it landed on its arse, I landed on my arse. You have Ukraine, Gaza, the American election and I ended up on the frontpage of the English papers for a week. I obviously deserved it."
O'Carroll offered his apologies to the runner once again on the show, and said he was "disgusted" with himself for offending him. He added: "You're a comedian, you try something on the edge, it doesn't work, you don't do it. I was disgusted with myself that I offended him, absolutely disgusted.
"I apologised to him and if he's watching now, I apologise to you again. I got it wrong, move on."
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