Comedian Katherine Ryan made her longest public appearance since the Russell Brand scandal as she hosted the Glamour Women of the Year Awards at London's One Marylebone last night.
Appearing to address the saga, Ryan said on stage: “Men are sick, that’s right, all men". She went on to joke about her credentials as a feminist comic. "What a relief for me that I finally have a son. So that when people correctly accuse me of unfairly targeting all men in my stand-up comedy, I can say, no not me, I have a little boy, a baby son, far from it" she said. "That is the perfect smokescreen for my feminist agenda. My two year old is a toxic male who plays with monster trucks day in and day out."
Ryan said in an interview with Louis Theroux last year that there was a "predator" in the comedy industry, which she hinted at again on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Reports have suggested she was referring to her time on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle in 2018 alongside Russell Brand, but Ryan has not confirmed this, or named the show she was working on. Brand was recently accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse by four women in a joint investigation between The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches. Brand strongly denies the claims.
Also at the Glamour Awards was Lily Allen, who won an award for best theatre actor for her well reviewed run in the West End's The Pillowman. "It's ironic to me that I am being honoured for my dramatic work this evening because the past two years, since I first ventured onto the West End stage have been the least dramatic of my life" Allen said.
Allen, who is now sober, said she had changed her wild ways since her younger years. She was once lifted out of the Glamour Awards ceremony while inebriated. "I was still filled with anxiety and feelings of inadequacy at events just like these and I dealt with them in much more unhealthy ways" she said. "In fact, I believe I was carried out of this very ceremony in 2009, past those railings and put into the back of a car like it was A&E. I’m so glad those days are behind me and that kind of drama is in the dust. Thank you Glamour for inviting me back after I put on such an embarrassing display last time."
The singer turned actor, who lives in New York, said she "never felt like I deserved" awards she won during her music career. "I don’t know why, perhaps it was the tabloid rhetoric or the negative voices on social media, but in my mind awards were about being the best at something, and I didn’t feel like the best at anything" she said. "I don’t believe in the value of being the best nowadays. Now I believe we should celebrate our failures as much as we celebrate our wins because I believe you learn so much from failing".
The awards were a bit tamer than the wild Lily Allen years, with no one carried out this time. How boring. Attending were Lena Dunham, who took off her shoes on the red carpet to get more comfortable, and presenters Vick Hope, Laura Whitmore and Rochelle Humes. Also there was singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, ex-Spice Girl Geri Horner, and models Munroe Bergdorf and Lottie Moss.
