We cannot tackle violence against women without confronting the wider culture in which misogyny is normalised, sexual violence is minimised and survivors are made to feel that speaking out will cost them their dignity. 

Belfast comedian Vittorio Angelone has come under fire for making a “rape joke” about Rebecca Goodwin, a woman who is currently going through a sexual assault trial. In the joke Angelone turned to his fellow comedian and asked ‘Freddy, if you’re here, who’s raping Rebecca Goodwin?’ then added ‘That’s a joke. Of course it’s her dad.’

Goodwin, an influencer, Onlyfans Creator and mother, took to TikTok yesterday visibly upset and crying after being made aware of the “joke”. She said that she’d been on the ‘Have a Word Podcast’ before and she wasn’t informed that this kind of “joke” was going to be made at her expense. She described her current sexual assault trial as “one of the hardest things I have ever been through in my life”. 

The joke, which Angelone has now apologised for, was made available to the podcast’s 45,000 Patreon subscribers, and the hundreds of thousands more who have now seen it as an account of it being in the news. 

In a later video Goodwin said, ‘I enjoy a bit of dark humour, but what I would never do, and what I thought most people on social media knew that they shouldn’t do, would be to take an active rape trial victim, make a joke about it, publicise from it and monetise from it. I thought you were cleverer than that.’

Rape jokes of this nature are categorically misogynistic and fuel a rape culture that women across the world are forced to navigate every single day. It’s not a harmless joke if it trivialises the experiences of survivors of sexual violence. Instead, it sends the message that their suffering is unworthy of empathy and that the violation of a person’s consent and autonomy is a harmless source of entertainment.

When survivors hear rape jokes, particularly when those around them laugh or dismiss their concerns, it reinforces a culture in which victims can feel afraid to speak out. Worse still, it contributes to an environment in which victim-blaming becomes normalised and survivors have reason to fear that their experiences will be met with ridicule rather than compassion.

It also impacts the bystander.  When people laugh, stay silent or defend a joke as “just banter”, it signals that these comments are socially acceptable. In turn, the person objecting becomes the one accused of having no sense of humour, while the person making light of sexual violence escapes scrutiny.

Rape jokes, evidently, do not just occur in the fringes of the extreme internet. The recently released Feel Seen Report, based on a national survey of 330 students across twelve Irish higher education institutions, found that 70% reported rape jokes or “locker room talk” to be common, including 29% who considered them very common. 

It’s never harmless, even when it’s muttered in a smoking area or whispered across a table in a pub. Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s 2025 report revealed that 45% of people reported knowing someone who has experienced sexual violence. You may never know if the person who hears the joke is a victim. But ultimately,  every time rape is made into a punchline, we risk making the attitudes that underpin sexual violence a little easier to tolerate, laugh off and ignore.

But Vittoria Angelone’s joke wasn’t told in private. It was told specifically about a victim going through a rape trial and broadcasted to hundreds of thousands with audience laugher in the background, and it’s now reached perhaps millions of people. 

The decision to broadcast a joke like this is not made by one comedian alone. There are platforms that host it, people who promote it, and an industry which now, more than before, is rewarding it. 

This month, Saturday Night Live faced backlash after comedian Shane Gillis made derogatory remarks about women’s clothing during his opening monologue, amid wider public debate about sexual violence following a high-profile rape case involving students at Cornell University.

Rape and femicide are the most extreme consequences of a culture when reinforces gender violence and rape culture. A single joke doesn’t cause this violence, but we cannot tackle violence against women without confronting the wider culture in which misogyny is normalised, sexual violence is minimised and survivors are made to feel that speaking out will cost them their dignity. 

Chief Executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Rachel Morrogh, said in a statement to District. “Many people have experienced sexual violence, and many others live in fear of it. For survivors, hearing rape treated as a punchline can be deeply hurtful, and it reinforces the attitudes that discourage people from coming forward. Reporting sexual violence and going through the courts takes enormous courage, and survivors deserve to know that the process will be treated with seriousness and respect.

“Anyone with a public platform, including performers, promoters and venues, has a responsibility to consider who is listening and the harm this kind of material can do. To treat sexual violence as a joke betrays a deep lack of understanding of what survivors have lived through. Anyone affected by sexual violence can contact our 24-hour National Helpline on 1800 77 8888, which is free and confidential.”

Vittorio Angelone has since apologised for the joke via his Instagram.