Mrs Brown’s Boys star received death threats for supporting Israel

"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.”