Mrs Brown’s Boys star Brendan O’Carroll defends implying racial slur in comedy work

Mrs Brown’s Boys star Brendan O’Carroll has defended implying highly offensive racial slurs in his comedy.

O’Carroll, the 69-year-old Irish actor who plays the title character in the long-running BBC comedy, recently apologised for making a “clumsy” joke where a “racial term was implied” during rehearsals for the forthcoming Christmas specials.

It has since been reported that O’Carroll was in character as Mrs Brown when he began to utter the N-word before he was stopped by his on-screen daughter, who was also in character.

The BBC halted filming to launch an investigation after the remark was flagged to bosses. O’Carroll then said he “deeply regrets the clumsy line”.

It has now been reported that in an interview, O’Carroll argued in defence of such jokes and said it could only work when he was in character as the Mrs Browns Boys titular star Agnes Brown.

The Daily Mail reports that during a recent interview, O’Carroll cited a sketch that he did with American actor Tyler Perry in Netflix’s A Madea Homecoming, which contains the use of racial terms. As Madea, Perry – who is Black – plays an older woman who meets Mrs Brown.

The sketch sees the two characters with differing Irish and American accents misunderstand each other so that the word “knickers” is misinterpreted as a racial slur.

The actor reportedly recalled that this sketch was a success, saying: “I did the movie with Tyler Perry and we were about four years in the planning of it.

“But we’d have Facetimes, and the scene that we do, the knicker/n***** piece, we howled laughing at it.

“And we agreed that we wouldn’t get away with it – but [our characters] Madea and Mrs Brown would.”

“So we did it, and it became one of the highlights of the f***ing movie.”

Recalling the scene, O’Carroll explained, “In the movie Agnes says, ‘Now hold on, don’t be getting your knickers in a twist.”

Perry’s character Madea replies: “Did you call me a n*****?”

Mrs Brown then responds,”No, no, I said knicker.”

O’Carroll said the scene was “f***ing hilarious” and “the place fell apart laughing”.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Mr O’Carroll for comment.

At the time of the release of A Madea Homecoming in 2022, O’Carroll came under fire for his remarks about race while appearing on The One Show to promote the film alongside Perry. During the interview, O’Carroll said that Mrs Brown’s Boys had never had anyone of Perry’s “colour” feature on the show before.

When asked if he thought his fellow guest could feature on Mrs Brown’s Boys, O’Carroll responded: “He’s very expensive and so far we haven’t had anybody his colour in there,” the Irish actor continued, pointing at his face on the word “colour”.

O’Carroll said that he would love the actor to appear on the show or for the pair to make another film together, while Perry laughed at the comment while repeating the words: “Nobody my colour.”

“Times have changed, change the world,” Perry. “Diversity rules, here we go.”

The One Show viewers were shocked by O’Carroll’s comment, which was described by one viewer as “offensive” and “racist”.

The remarks are in line with the tone of the Perry-directed comedy, which features several jokes about race and ethnicity.

In one scene, Mrs Brown greets Madea by crossing her arms and saying “Wakanda forever”, in reference to the Black Panther motto from the Marvel films.

Another clip shows the actor at dinner with Perry’s character, where she says “I’m Mrs Brown”, with one of the co-stars replying: “I’m a brown too.”

During filming for the recent Christmas special, the BBC investigated the incident and halted rehearsals, which have since resumed at the corporation’s Pacific Quay studios in Glasgow. It is understood that the specials are still scheduled to air on BBC One this festive season in their usual Christmas Day and New Year’s Day slots.

A BBC spokesperson said: “While 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.”

A representative for O’Carroll told The Daily Mail: “We would also like to clarify that the ‘n’ word was absolutely not spoken, it was implied. Agnes (Mrs Brown) began the word but was stopped from finishing it by her daughter Cathy, as she (Mrs Brown) knew she would be.”

O’Carroll said in a statement: “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.”