‘The idea I would advise someone to do it repulsed me’: Danny Dyer on his controversial Zoo column

‘People still hate me for that,’ said actor

Danny Dyer has discussed his controversial column in Zoo magazine, in which he gave such abhorrent dating advice that he was fired from his role as agony uncle.

In 2010, the former EastEnders star was sacked from the publication – which closed in 2015 – for advising a man who couldn’t get over his ex-girlfriend to “cut his ex’s face, then no one will want her”.

There was uproar over the piece at the time, which was ghost-written by a journalist who Dyer was dictating to over the phone, and it has tarnished Dyer’s reputation.

Speaking in a new interview with The Times Magazine, Dyer said: “People still hate me for that.”

He continued: “The line is a quote from a film I’d done, but the idea I would advise someone to do it repulsed me. It was a joke. I don’t know why the editor or sub-editor thought it OK to print that.”

Dyer added: “It was that era. It was lad culture out of control. I know some people still think I’m a misogynist who beats up women and would advise other men to do that. I suffered from it really badly.

“All these publications are gone now. Zoo, Nuts, Loaded. There isn’t one left on the shelf, which is right, absolutely.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Dyer discussed the possibility of returning to EastEnders in the future.

Danny Dyer (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

His exit from the BBC One soap in December involved his character, Mick Carter, disappearing into the sea.

As his body hasn’t been found, Mick could potentially make a return to the soap in a similar way to Dennis “Dirty Den” Watts.

“Anything is possible,” Dyer said, before admitting the scene did leave him a bit confused. “Where would he have gone to? He can’t swim. I found it a bit odd.”

Dyer can next be seen in the new quiz show, Cheat, which begins on Netflix on 1 March.