Comedian Daniel Sloss issues public apology after failing to call out rape ‘joke’
Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss has issued a public apology after failing to call out fellow comic Vittorio Angelone’s shocking rape ‘joke’ during a podcast interview.
The 36-year-old shared a statement to his 925,000 Instagram followers on Wednesday, saying he “failed” when he didn’t call out a comment Angelone made about content creator Rebecca Goodwin, who had previously spoken publicly about being the victim of sexual assault.
Comedian Daniel Sloss has issued a public apology after failing to call out a fellow comedian over a rape joke. Instagram/@danielsloss
“I’ve spoken to Rebecca privately and apologised, but I also want to acknowledge my part in this publicly,” the statement started.
“I’ve spent years talking about the importance of calling out this kind of behaviour, yet when it happened in front of me, I didn't. I recognise the immense hypocrisy in that and I’m not going to make excuses for it. I failed.
“Anyone who is disappointed in my lack of action has every right to be, so please don’t jump at my defence when that’s exactly what I failed to do for someone who actually needed it.
“Rebecca deserved better, and I’m sorry I didn’t do better.”
Sloss’ statement has garnered mixed opinions online, with many slamming him for only addressing the comments now a year later after the podcast started to get backlash online.
The original comment from Angelone was made in a 2025 episode of the Have A Word podcast during a “roast” episode where comedians took turns to insult each other in front of an audience.
Angelone asked fellow comedian Freddy Quinne: “If you’re here, who’s raping Rebecca Goodwin?” during the episode.
Goodwin had reported a rape to police in July 2025 and had recently spoken publicly about her experience.
“I’ve spent years talking about the importance of calling out this kind of behaviour, yet when it happened in front of me, I didn’t.” Instagram/@danielsloss
The influencer said the episode was recorded "in September/October of 2025 and has been behind a paywall for a year before being published to social media".
She explained she had only become aware of the comments made when clips from the podcast were shared to social media and had cried about the ‘joke’ when it was bought to her attention.
Goodwin said it will “forever live with me that it was allowed for my name to be used as the punchline of a malicious ‘joke’ about such a serious issue.”
Other comedians who had been on the episode have since apologised to her as well, including Angelone.
Rebecca Goodwin shared a tearful video on TikTok after the joke, made by comedian Vittorio Angelone was bought to her attention. Instagram/@vittorioangelone TikTok/@beckymil911
“I made a joke that I shouldn’t have made and I’d like to say sorry. The joke referenced sexual violence. At the very least, I should have run the joke past the person mentioned and then still not told it because it isn’t funny,” he wrote in a statement shared to Instagram.
“I let my need for validation supersede my own standards and morals. It's completely pathetic and I'm ashamed to realise that myself.”
Angelone said he he prides himself “on being able to talk about difficult topics and make them funny” and that, while he “stands behind plenty of jokes that people have criticised”, this was “not one of those jokes”.
He then said that he had apologised to Goodwin directly.
“I'm so sorry to all the people who are rightly upset by the joke. I know that's not going to make it OK, but I'm still sorry. I am not apologising in the hopes that this all blows over. I'm apologising because that's what you should do when you realise you've done something wrong.
“I’m grateful to you for calling me out and making me realise where I should’ve done better. Sometimes you need a lot of people telling you that you f***ed up to realise that you f---ed up. I will do better in the future.”
