Dawn French claims she’d ‘take a BULLET’ for ‘cruel’ comedians to be able to say what they want

She’s set to reprise her role as Geraldine Granger in The Vicar of Dibley for the BBC classic’s Christmas special later this month. 

And in a new interview, Dawn French has claimed she’d take a BULLET for ‘cruel’ comedians to be able to say what they want as she insisted: ‘I don’t set out to offend, but I do set out to challenge.’ 

On Friday’s edition of Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4, the French & Saunders star, 63, detailed her views regarding the policing of comedians for fear of people being offended.

Bold statement! In a new interview, Dawn French, 63, has claimed she’d take a BULLET for ‘cruel’ comedians to be able to say what they want

Joining Steph McGovern to talk about her new novel, reuniting with Jennifer Saunders and some very special Christmas instalments of The Vicar of Dibley, Dawn was asked whether comedy had changed since she first started-out.

Dawn admitted: ‘If we start policing people’s comedy it’s a slippery slope that, I’m not keen on that…

‘I might not agree with some of the cruel and spiky comedians, it might not be my taste, but I’d take a bullet for them to be able to do it.’

When Steph asked if we’d all become a ‘bit too sensitive’ Dawn agreed, saying ‘we need the edges of life, we need the spiky bits…’ 

Freedom of speech: 'I might not agree with some of the cruel and spiky comedians, it might not be my taste, but I'd take a bullet for them to be able to do it' explained Dawn

Freedom of speech: ‘I might not agree with some of the cruel and spiky comedians, it might not be my taste, but I’d take a bullet for them to be able to do it’ explained Dawn

How it is: On Friday's edition of Steph's Packed Lunch on Channel 4, the French & Saunders star detailed her views regarding the policing of comedians for fear of people being offended

How it is: On Friday’s edition of Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4, the French & Saunders star detailed her views regarding the policing of comedians for fear of people being offended

Asked whether she thinks it’s harder to be a comedian now, Dawn explained: ‘I’m aware that you can offend people but I think I’m too long in the tooth now…

‘I hope my heart is in the right place, I know my intentions are never any malice or anything like that. There might be a bit of cheek in me, but I would never intend to hurt anybody.

‘I can’t police myself too much and neither can any comedian. I don’t set out to offend, but I do set out to challenge.’

Steph’s Packed Lunch airs weekdays at 12.30pm on Channel 4.

Harmless fun! 'I know my intentions are never any malice or anything like that. There might be a bit of cheek in me, but I would never intend to hurt anybody' said the star

 Harmless fun! ‘I know my intentions are never any malice or anything like that. There might be a bit of cheek in me, but I would never intend to hurt anybody’ said the star

Dawn’s comments come after she admitted back in October that she had become concerned that modern day cancel culture means comedians won’t be able to do edgy comedy, for fear of losing their career as a result. 

Speaking to Mariella Frostrup on Times Radio, Dawn said: ‘I don’t really know how we go forward from this strange position we’re in.

‘Certainly in the world of stand-up comedy where the edges are where it’s most interesting… I want those edgy people there challenging us all the time and making us laugh.

‘The kind of laughs you have when you think that’s one of the naughtiest things I’ve ever heard, or there’s a person inventing a character who is everything awful.

‘But now I just don’t know if you’d ever be able to do that because you’d just have so many haters on your back and I don’t know how we explore it anymore. I’m quite glad to be my age, in a way.’  

Challenge through comedy: 'I can't police myself too much and neither can any comedian. I don't set out to offend, but I do set out to challenge' said Dawn

Challenge through comedy: ‘I can’t police myself too much and neither can any comedian. I don’t set out to offend, but I do set out to challenge’ said Dawn

Dawn also addressed the shocking racism she encountered when she was married to Sir Lenny Henry, revealing that, at one point, they had police living with them.

The comedienne said: ‘I had never experienced anything like that until I met him and I just couldn’t believe the continual racism that happens in his life, the casual, insidious racism which I found really offensive.

‘But then the big giant ‘let’s smear shit on your door and try to set fire to your house’ kind of racism and I was so angry about it and that’s what got us through it…   

‘For a while, we had the police living inside our home when some people had scratched really racist slogans on every panel on two cars outside our house.

‘And now I have a mixed race daughter and I see what she experiences, I see it. But she’s very strong and she can sniff a racist at 200 yards and takes a nice steep swerve to the left.’