H&S: 'no Dapper Laughs book'

Hodder & Stoughton has said it is not publishing a book by controversial TV "comedian" Dapper Laughs, describing listings for the book on Amazon and its own site as being “mistakenly fed out”.

An Amazon listing for Dapper Laughs Little Black Book says the £12.99 hardback will be released on 12th February next year. A page listing on the publisher's own website, visible yesterday (10th November), has been taken down. The book was recorded as cancelled on Nielsen BookData last week (5th November).

A spokeswoman for Hodder & Stoughton told The Bookseller that it “did offer for the book a while back but unfortunately couldn’t agree terms so withdrew our offer”. Listings for the book, which are being removed, were created through feeds which were “mistakenly fed out”, said the spokeswoman.

Dapper Laughs, real name Daniel O’Reilly, has come in for severe criticism for his television show "On the Pull" on ITV2, which showed the final episode of its first series last week. ITV announced yesterday that it would not be producing a second series, following a petition signed by more than 48,000 people in just over two days. .
The petition said O’Reilly’s work “frequently depicts real-life harassment of women and in his new show he offers dating tips to members of the public inspired by his misogynistic views, all under the guise of harmless comedy”.

Homeless charity Shelter said last week said it would not accept any donations from Dapper Laughs, who planned to give the organisation funds raised via a Christmas album he made.

ITV had previously defended its decision to give Dapper Laughs a television show in a letter to a concerned member of the public, saying that Dapper Laughs’ humour was not sexist or degrading to women.

“Dapper’s pulling tips are firmly based on treating women with respect and speaking to them in the right way and this is the message he gives to all the singles on the show during the series,” the letter said. “We realise that all humour is subjective and accept that Dapper’s humour is more risqué but feel that his unique brand of banter and brash charm is neither sexist or degrading to women and that his approach to pulling is based on displaying the right attitude to women in order to succeed.”