One of the leading actors in the hit BBC comedy Mrs Brown's Boys has said he received death threats after a video of him hosting an event at the Israeli embassy went viral.

Rory Cowan spoke at the embassy in Dublin on Israel independence day in May 2013.

He said he was shocked at the amount of abuse and antisemitic comments he received after views of online footage of the event increased during the Gaza conflict last summer.

He said: "I've had death threats, I've been warned to stay out of Derry. There's been a campaign to get me replaced in Mrs Brown's Boys.

"All because I was asked to MC an event at the Israeli embassy for Israel's 65th anniversary, that was filmed in May 2013.”

The Irish star of Mrs Brown’s Boys, which hit a peak audience of 9.6 million viewers over Christmas, said he was a frequent visitor to Israel.

He said: "I love going to Israel, I've been going since 1982 and I was telling them about my good experiences there and why I wouldn't be boycotting it.
"It was put up on the internet and it was there for 15 months when the thing in Gaza kicked off last year.
"People took that video and they said, 'Well, look, he's standing with Israel, he's supporting genocide and the killing of children'.
"And with that it just came from everywhere."

The 55-year-old actor admitted he found it hard dealing with the abuse, but he had the support of his close friend Brendan O'Carroll, the writer of the BBC Series.

Mr Cowan said: "People were putting up vile things, even on Brendan's Facebook page about me.

"Someone said to Brendan, 'Your mother would be turning in her grave if she knew you employed someone like him'.
"He said to that person, 'She'd turn in her grave if she thought he couldn't have his own opinion'. He was very supportive.”