Al Porter has made a statement five years after he retired from the public eye after a series of tweets about allegations against him were revealed.
He learned there was a complaint of sexual assault against him made to the Garda in 2017.
The Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew the charge against him the following year but Al has remained away from the limelight since the allegations were made.
Now, he looks ready to return to the stage as he admitted that he wants to “make people laugh again.”
In a lengthy statement on his website, he discussed how he learned of the allegations and how his life changed in “48 hours”.
“I know now I had to listen and grow up and make changes in my life. I should have been a better colleague and a better friend,” he wrote as he discussed how his friends all turned their backs on him.
“I was just 19 when we all met, and they were the older, more experienced comics. They said publicly that I had been inappropriate with them back then, some said that they laughed at the time, but they felt uncomfortable.
“I remember events differently and we remained in contact for years, messaging online and working and socialising together in person. Although I started getting higher billing, and some bigger gigs, I was never in a position of power over anyone, despite what some people may have written.”
However, he adds that he was “hugely immature” at the time, going on to say, “I was an idiot. I let my family and friends down. I let my partner down, who has been with me since before and through all this.
“I let my community down, Tallaght, the comedy scene and the LGBTQ community. I let down the people I worked with. And I let down the people who came to my shows and have always supported me.”
The now 29-year-old was flying high with a slot on Today FM as well as presenting Blind Dates on TV3, now Virgin Media, when the allegations came to light.
“I got a major wake-up call. I paid a high price and learned my lessons the tough way and in the most public way imaginable,” he wrote in his statement.
He is now eager to return to the limelight and to the stage concluding his statement by writing, “Now, I’d like to make people laugh again. Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. Mine starts now.”
