From top: Al Porter; St Patrick’s University Hospital, Dublin
A former psychiatric patient has claimed that Al Porter, the broadcaster and comedian, groped and kissed him while visiting a hospital in 2015.
The student, who is in his mid-twenties and who asked not to be named, spent almost six weeks as an inpatient in St Patrick’s after he was diagnosed with depression. He had previously made a suicide attempt.
Blind Date star ‘groped me on psychiatric hospital visit’ (Mark Tighe, The Sunday Times Ireland)
“No allegations, complaints or concerns have been made to St Patrick’s Mental Health Services by service users or staff in relation to these matters, and the organisation has only been made aware of the allegations regarding Mr. Al Porter this morning through a Sunday newspaper.”
Statement from St Patrick’s Hospital.
Meanwhile…
The student whose experience with Al Porter was that he was groped and kissed by him when he was in a psychiatric hospital is one of the bravest and most impressive people I’ve dealt with in my time as a reporter with the Sunday Times. This young man spoke about being groped 1/3
— Mark Tighe (@marktigheST) November 20, 2017
when he was experiencing extreme weight loss and other symptoms of acute depression. We believed his story. It was an important one to publish especially given Porter’s well publicised comments on mental health issues. Some of Porter’s representatives on Saturday threatened 2/3
— Mark Tighe (@marktigheST) November 20, 2017
the ST with an injunction and an on-the-record denial from another celebrity. In the end there wasn’t even a statement. It was a stressful experience for this young man but he was steadfast throughout. Porter should give him a direct and full apology. 3/3
— Mark Tighe (@marktigheST) November 20, 2017
Top pic: Rollingnews
1 sentence to sum up his career now……thats al folks
Now then now then.
I’ve no reason to disbelieve this man but anyone who knew of Porters act, or persona he uses for his act would know its a sexual thing. He does not do it to get his kicks its a persona and part of an act. People seriously need to stop this “oh I’m a victim”‘ crap. Real victims of real sexual misconduct definitely need to speak out, but seems to me, to be not one of them.
I’m surprised for his real life Benny Hill shtick he didn’t get a good Rocky Balboa face rearranging impression.. just for the lols like.
Same here. He sounds like a seriously ill guy
If part of your act is to grope vulnerable people without their consent I don’t see why it should be treated any differently than if it’s your real persona. A persona that gropes people without their consent is only fictional if it’s part of a literal fictional performance, a play or a film or a TV show where everyone is acting to a script or within pre-determined parameters. You take that persona outside that setting and grope people without their consent you are basically being a predator and using a persona as cover.
For what it’s worth I had never heard of Porter before this broke, therefore an assumption that people’s supposed common knowledge of his ‘persona’ gives him license to grope is specious at best.
There was a priest who used to grope kids when he visited our school, pinching us, poking us, prodding us, right in front of the class, all in good fun because he was a jolly priest. The girls in particular used to dread getting called up by him. That’s what this reminds me of.
This ^
Edit – Ohhh an edit button
What’s classed as a grope, serious question. Is it bum, penis, chest what. Because I’ve been to drag shows and was ass grabbed. I took it as what it was, a bit of laugh to embarrass me, me as a straight guy in at a drag act in a gay club, it wasn’t sexual assault. If like you say he just took advantage of some one then thats different.
It was sexual assault and you are in denial about it, how did the offender know you were straight?
Would u go away. It was a joke, it was in no way assault. But if someone deems it assault then surely they should contact the police. Not bitch years later about it, but in the case of a vulnerable person I understand they might not have the ability to report straight away.
I’d be interested in a legal opinion on this, actually. Any unwelcome or non-consensual touching can potentially be ‘groping’ in a casual sense, with a rising scale of offence depending on intimacy, frequency and force applied. But what would count as assault I don’t know.
here you go Nigel
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/26/enacted/en/print
Just because it may be part of a persona that he uses for his act doesn’t make it right.
WTF, he is accused of sexually assaulting a psychiatric patient. That cannot be passed of as part of a comedy act.
He’s just edgy, a genuine talent, a one-off, you’re maybe not cool enough to understand
I can’t believe what I’ve just read. Is that it? Is that the excuse? Is he performing his ‘act’ 24/7/365 then? If so, it’s not really an act then, it’s an illness. He needs help.
Times change. The late Freddy Mercury didn’t let a day pass when he didn’t grope somebody.
Comedy is also a victim here, porter brought the world a brand of comedy the world had never seen before, an excessively camp butlins Esq character who possed an unnatural talent to reel off one innuendo laden jibe after another unsettling even the most open minded FG supporter.
“a brand of comedy the world had never seen before” – It was poo 70s-80s double entendre comedy. Hardly new.
Ouch.
Kenneth Williams comedy, like. Certainly not a Porter invention.
woosh
Kenneth Williams was a comedic genius imho
Al Porter well… isn’t.
“Infamy, infamy…”
The more I think bout all of jigs stuff the more I think that a lot of men are completely unaware of where the line is. Which isn’t an excuse when it should be obvious.
After 2017 there will certainly be no excuses.
The line? A psychiatric in-patient, in a psych hospital. Any decent thinking, normal, reasonable person knows the line is at the gate of the hospital.
agree completely
the line is grabbing someone’s sexual organs, I’m sure all men knew that but until now were confidant there were no consequences for crossing it… now there are consequences
Did this student burn down an apartment too? The Sunday Times stinks. One word: Murdoch. Name the student.
The one above Eddie Rockets on Camden Street?
I’m not sure I understand what an on-the-record denial from another celebrity to the ST would consist of. Another celebrity saying AP didn’t grope anyone?
Yeah, hard to see what that would’ve accomplished. Fair play to the student for sticking to his guns in the face of intimidation