TV star Darren Kennedy has opened up about an upsetting incident that took place in Dublin’s city centre last weekend, where a homophobic comment was hurled towards him.
Taking to his social media to call out this ‘unacceptable’ behaviour, Darren said that although he has a thick skin, receiving such abuse did ‘sting’ him.
Relaying the event, Darren began: “I was on Camden Street minding my own business on Saturday night when a group of guys walked by and one of them pointed directly to me and went, ‘There’s the faggot off the telly’, and they all laughed.”
Continuing on, he said: “Oh my God he’s talking about me, he’s calling me a faggot’. Is it the first time I’ve been called a faggot? No. Is it the first time in a long time? It is”
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The beauty brand owner then went on to say that although he’s completely fine, the incident did take him back to his school days, when he received similar comments to the above.
“It kind of transported me back to my 13- or 14-year-old self and my school days when I was called a faggot a lot and it’s not nice”
“Thank God, I’ve got thicker skin than that but I’m not going to lie to you. I’m going to be honest and say that it did sting at that moment in time”
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Chatting more about the incident and why he felt it was important to call it out publicly rather than brush it under the rug, Darren told Jennifer Zamparelli on RTE 2FM this morning:
“What hurts me is that people are doing that today. If that’s directed to someone maybe not ok with who they are, or still figuring out who they are, that can be really devastating. That’s why I wanted to call it out.”