Katherine Ryan has opened up about how male actors, musicians and comedians she worked with responded after she called an unnamed comedian a “sexual predator” during an interview.
In 2022, the Canadian comic told journalist Louis Theroux about an incident in which she called out a male co-star on a TV set for alleged sexual abuse.
Speaking during a performance of her new comedy show Battleaxe at Hay Festival on Wednesday (28 May), Ryan said of the Theroux interview: “I wasn’t expecting him to ask me about sex predators in my industry, but I was very happy to talk about a female experience in that space.
“I didn’t think anyone would be curious about who I was referring to because people have known about this in my industry. It’s been an open secret for decades and nobody has ever cared. Like, yeah, I’ll speak freely with Louis Theroux. What’s the worst thing that can happen?”
Ryan said she began to receive “texts from loads of famous men” that she’d worked with but hadn’t spoken to in a decade. “Actors, musicians, comedians, just being like ‘Hey Katherine, hope you’re good. How is the family?’ I was like, ‘What do these men want?’”
Bobby Kootstra, Ryan’s husband, suggested to her that because she wouldn’t name the alleged predator in interviews that “these men would appreciate a proof text”. He explained: “They want you to reply something nice so they can show their agent and show their wife that you’re not talking about them.”
Ryan reflected: “All these famous men who couldn’t remember whether they’ve been a sex predator. There were a lot of drugs going around in the Nineties. But I think what’s a lot more likely is that there are men who have been programmed to believe that women are liars and maybe women are crazy, and it’s possible that I’ve just invented this entire scenario in my tiny lady imagination.”
As a joke, the comedian wrote back to her contemporaries with an alarming response: “I had to copy [and] paste 47 times ‘Do you really think you should be texting me after everything that happened?’” Ryan said. “In my defence, I had recently given birth, so my thought process was, ‘I don’t sleep at night, you don’t sleep at night’. It’s called micro feminism, you should try it.”
During the 2022 interview with Theroux, Ryan said that she believed the man she called out to be a “perpetrator of sexual assault”, but that even discussing it was “a litigious minefield”. She also stressed that the allegations were “not my story to tell” as “no one has perpetrated any sexual assaults against me”.
Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk.
If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)
