Panto star sacked for foul-mouthed outburst

Former Hollyoaks actor Paul Danan has been given his marching orders from Preston's Jack and the Beanstalk panto after indulging in a "foul-mouthed tirade" at the traditional switching-on of the Xmas lights.

According to the Lancashire Evening Post, 29-year-old Danan repeatedly swore in front of the 3,000-strong crowd "which included hundreds of children" at Wednesday night's ceremony. First up, he swore "when asked by one of his fellow cast members why he was not wearing his costume".

He was quickly deprived of the mic, and given "a comedy smack on the bottom by [a] fellow cast member". A couple of minutes later, however, he swore at the crowd again "in an attempt to generate some noise".

Police slapped him with an £80 on-the-spot fine shortly after the incident, and the next morning he was relieved of his lead role of Jack by the panto's producers. Viv Wells, of Pele Productions, confirmed: "He has been sacked, obviously because of what happened last night. We are a family-run business, I have three children of my own and our shows are for families and do not even have any innuendo in them.

"I did not have my kids with me last night, but I was left feeling sick because of what he has said in front of an audience of children and families. It was totally out of the blue and I am completely shocked."

Wells concluded: "I spoke to Paul's agent today and she said it was totally out-of-character and that he is going to write a full apology letter to us for his actions."

Danan has indeed apologised in a video (available at the Lancashire Evening Post here). He said: "I got a bit excited and wanted to get the crowd warmed up and accidentally swore. I feel really awful about it. What I was looking at was teenagers, students and adults and I didn't realise there were some kids. I'm extremely sorry if I offended anyone."

The paper also has outraged reaction from several witnesses, including Preston's mayor. The lone voice of support for Danan is one Jess Butterworth, who offered: "Children hear stuff like that all the time at home. I don't think he's done anything wrong."

What the Lancashire Evening Post doesn't have, however, is what Danan actually said, which we reckon is a bit of a f**king shame. ®