Katherine Ryan has revealed the no-nonsense approach she took when it came to texting men in the industry after she revealed the ‘dangerous’ comic working in comedy.
Last night Katherine, 41, hosted the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards in London and was honoured with a Feminist Hero Award for speaking out about the alleged predator in the industry.
The award referenced a 2022 interview with Louis Theroux, when Katherine claimed that the identity of a sexual assault predator is an open industry secret.
She told documentary maker Louis at the time: ‘No one has perpetrated any sexual assault against me, but this person, I believe very strongly – many people believe very strongly – is an open secret, is a perpetrator of sexual assault.
‘I, in front of loads of people, in the format of the show said to this person’s face that they are a predator.’
In her acceptance speech, she revealed that male colleagues were texting her after she spoke out, seeking ‘proof’ messages they could show to their wives to prove they weren’t talking about them.
However, Katherine went for a different approach and sent a cutting blanket text to all the men who messaged.
‘So I had to copy and paste like a hundred times “Do you really think you should be texting me after everything that happened between us”,’ she said.
She explained at the beginning of her speech that she wrestled with her conscience about working alongside someone she believed was guilty of sexual assault, but decided not to lose out on work because of it.
‘After some soul-searching, I thought “Why should I stay home?” He’s be there in his unnecessarily tight jeans, he’ll be there wearing beanie indoors or w***ing off a Tibetan monk for views, or whatever he gets up to.’
‘And so I accepted the gig but every time I had to speak to him I would say stuff like “I’m not getting paid enough to be here, especially for how many times my face will be on the news when your victims come forward” and fun banter like that.
‘It happened so long ago we were still using the word victim by the way, we say survivor now which would have been a very different Destiny’s Child song, less empowering.’
She added that she found it difficult when asked about trying to get him cancelled as his behaviour was known within the industry.
‘I wasn’t trying to get him cancelled because everyone knew,’ she said. ‘”Why didn’t you tell a journalist Katherine”, everybody knew. “Why didn’t you tell the police”, everybody already knew. Everybody knew but they couldn’t prove it.
‘What the journalist wanted from me was never his name it was the women’s names. The women who had told me their stories and I believe in a woman’s right to physical autonomy just as I believe in the right to autonomy of her voice and if they didn’t want to come forward that’s up to them. So I couldn’t say anything.’
Katherine then made the revelation about being contacted by men she’d worked with before.
‘But because I wouldn’t name my colleague a funny thing started happening, I started to receive texts from men that I’d worked with over the years, like actors, comedians, musicians, just like “Hey Katherine how’s it going”.
‘I didn’t know what they wanted so I showed these texts to my husband and he said: “Oh they just want a poof text, they want you to send them back something nice so they can show their agent and they can show their wife that you definitely weren’t talking about them.”
‘So I had to copy and paste like a hundred times “Do you really think you should be texting me after everything that happened between us”.’
In an episode of Desert Island Discs, while chatting to Lauren Laverne, Katherine revealed she had ‘pushback’ from the industry after speaking out.
‘I got a lot of pushback – like, “Why won’t you say who it is?” – it’s because everyone knows who it is. What they’re asking me for is the women’s names, and that’s what I won’t give, and that’s why I’m reluctant to talk about it.’
She also commented in the interview: ‘It’s funny how people go straight to accusing, “You’re the problem, you won’t give his name.” And it’s like, we’re not the problem.’