Niall Horan has finally put the feud with Dustin The Turkey to bed, confirming to fans that he was “in on the joke”.
After a week of controversy and online backlash, the former One Direction star addressed what really happened during his appearance on The Den during its otherwise triumphant return on RTÉ Does Comic Relief.
The Mullingar man, a longtime Den fan, saw his childhood dream come true when he appeared on The Den’s Talent on the Telly during the charity fundraiser, performing the song Black and White.
But some of his international fans took umbrage with his treatment by Dustin, after the singer was cut off mid-song, saying: “We wanted Harry Styles!
“You’re only getting a minute-and-a-half! I didn’t realise people from Mullingar had teeth!”
An American Twitter account with a following of 146,000 called Niall Updates blasted the joke was “disgusting and unprofessional” before embarking in a Twitter war with Irish fans arguing it was just “Irish humour”.
Earlier in the week, Dustin the Turkey responded to the backlash saying: “Lads......I’m a lover* not a fighter....I love Niall. I love Americans.
“I love The Craic. #BeKind
“*Just ask @KimKardashian.”
The fan account has since issued a series of tweets apologising for the reaction that followed the joke.
"I’ve been getting a lot of backlash for my Niall tweet from Irish ppl themselves,” they said.
“I’m sorry if I offended the Irish community. That wasn’t my intention.
“I understand that Dustin the Turkey has that sense of humor for comedy but...there could’ve been other jokes to be said.
“If Niall doesn’t care then okay.”
But finally putting the back and forth online row to bed, the 26-year-old This Town hitmaker has reassured fans that he was in on the quip, and explained how Dustin is “like our national mascot”.
During an interview on Sirius XM, Horan addressed the controversy after he was asked if he’s “in a fight with a Turkey”.
“Oh yeah this has kicked off big time.
“So there’s a few characters that did an afternoon TV show in Ireland for years, like puppets, and one of them is known to be quite brash but in the most Irish way possible,” he laughed.
“So my fans have completely retaliated against the Turkey and it’s kicked off… and he’s like our national mascot so I’m kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place where I don’t know whether to tell the fans that like it’s a puppet, and to also realise that our national treasure is Dustin the Turkey.”
