Fr Ted comedian "shocked" by "hateful comments" about Navan Pride Parade video

Comedian Joe Rooney has told of his “shock” at receiving “hateful comments” after posting a video of the Pride Parade in Navan.

Funny man Rooney told his Tik Tok following how he attended the parade and also hosted an event called Breaking Down Barriers in the Solstice Arts Centre earlier this month where five brave people told their stories of 'coming out.' However he said that he was not prepared for the "vitriol" he would receive from online trolls.

The Fr Ted star says he is now determined to support the gay community even further as a result of the abuse he was subjected to after the video went online.

Taking to Tik Tok Joe said:

“I just wanted to talk about something because I put a post up, a 15-second post, a few days ago, from the Pride Parade in Navan, just to celebrate being there.

“And I was actually shocked, I got about 20 or 30 really hateful comments from people I didn't know.

“Most of them are anonymous but really nasty stuff like, oh it's sad, but a lot of stuff saying that it was a parade for paedophiles, which I mean, this is a trope that obviously the far-right use against anyone they don't like.

“They use it as well as against immigrants, saying that they're paedophiles, but I was shocked at it. And it just makes me want to actually do more for the Pride movement because I didn't realise that there was such hate out there, such nasty, bitter people who I mean, God knows what damage they're doing.

“One or two were parents, I could see that on their account, and the kind of damage that would do if one of their children was gay or even people in the community.”

Speaking about the event he hosted in the Solstice Arts Centre where five people got up and shared their experience with coming out, the comedian said:

“Five people from vast age gaps, like from 60 down to people in their 20s, and they spoke about their struggle in dealing with being gay and coming out.

“It was such a lovely event and the way people spoke, and they were very articulate and they were very open, about their struggle.

“And it was a great event for people in the audience, to listen and to see that they weren't alone, And then, to put up that little video from the Pride Parade and see so much hate, yeah.”

Rooney said that in the past he had stayed away “a little bit from Pride events or from being overtly holding up the flag and all that kind of stuff”.

“Because I felt that it might look like jumping on the bandwagon, which I didn't want people to think I was doing,” he explained.

“But I would say after putting up that video and seeing those comments I will openly as much as possible support Pride events in the future, just to show that people like me, a straight, old, white, male, support the gay community.”