Daniel Sloss has publicly apologised to Rebecca Goodwin for staying silent when another comedian made a joke about her rape on stage. Sloss did not make the joke. His apology is about what he did not do, and coming from him, that is exactly why it has landed so hard.
What happened
About a year ago, the Have A Word podcast held a roast. During it, the Irish comic Vittorio Angelone made a joke about Rebecca Goodwin, an OnlyFans creator who had reported being raped around three months earlier. Her case is now before the courts, and she has waived her right to anonymity. The roast was later made available to the podcast’s Patreon subscribers.
Goodwin only found out about the joke this month, and responded in an emotional series of social media posts. She said the joke hurt, that people she had considered friends laughed, and that none of them had checked on her afterwards. Daniel Sloss was among the comedians on stage that night, according to her account. The reports do not say he laughed, and he did not tell the joke.
Angelone has since apologised on Instagram, saying he “made a joke that I shouldn’t have made”. Goodwin says Sloss, Have A Word regular Freddy Quinne and co-owner Adam Rowe also apologised to her after her posts went viral.
Daniel Sloss’s apology
Sloss posted his statement on Instagram. He wrote that he had already spoken to Goodwin privately, but wanted to acknowledge his part in public.
“I’ve spent years talking about the importance of calling out this kind of behaviour, yet when it happened in front of me, I didn’t.”
Daniel Sloss
He called it “immense hypocrisy”, said he would not make excuses, and asked fans not to defend him, because defending someone was exactly what he had failed to do. He ended with: “Rebecca deserved better, and I’m sorry I didn’t do better.”
Why it matters more coming from Sloss
Sloss built much of his reputation on this subject. His 2019 Netflix special X included a long, serious passage about men staying silent when their friends behave badly towards women, and about what it costs when nobody speaks up. For many fans, that set was the reason they followed him.
That is why the reaction in the comments under his post has been so sharp. Many people pointed out that he is the comedian who told audiences to call out their friends, and that he did not do it when it mattered. Others said that taking public responsibility is what they want comedians to do, and that it should be allowed to count for something.
Rebecca Goodwin’s response
Goodwin has said the apologies came only after she spoke out publicly, and that she does not accept them. Of the comedians who apologised, she said their apology had been “acknowledged, but unfortunately not accepted.” She has also said the joke normalises sexual violence, and that she had believed the room was a safe one.
Support organisations have made the same point. Rachel Morrogh, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said that for survivors, “hearing rape treated as a punchline can be deeply hurtful.”
Where this leaves comedy
Roast culture depends on the idea that anything goes because the people being joked about have signed up for it. Rebecca Goodwin had not. Her case is still going through the courts. Whatever happens next for the comedians involved, that is the part worth remembering.
Daniel Sloss’s full statement is below.
View Daniel Sloss’s statement on Instagram
Reporting on the roast and the apologies: Chortle.