Ray D'Arcy has addressed the backlash caused by Dustin the Turkey's comments towards former One Direction star Niall Horan.

That's not a sentence any regular viewers of The Den thought they would ever read since Dustin has said a lot worse than what Niall was on the receiving end of on Friday night. You've probably heard the story by now but if you haven't, Dustin was taking part in a Den special as part of RTE Does Comic Relief when he told Niall that they actually wanted Harry Styles and, well, that he wasn't aware that people from Mullingar had teeth. Most Irish people will know that it was tip of the iceberg stuff from the acid-tongued turkey but over in America, fans of Niall have been calling the comments "disrespectful and rude". The hashtag #RTERayShowRespectNiallHoran was also used by many in a bid to defend Horan. Ray's RTE colleague Joe Duffy announced on Monday that the Kildare man had "gone into hiding" over the scandal but in reality, it seems he's just on his holidays. However, D'Arcy has made time to address the criticism on his podcast by saying: "I doubt that any of them are listening to this but if they are, firstly, Niall will tell them himself, it was pre-recorded. So we weren't being rude to him live.  We had very limited amount of time. The presenter went on to say that "Niall, more than anybody, is up for the craic. He wanted to do The Den, he really did." That should hopefully put the matter to bed for a while, until the next Den special at least. Might be best to keep outta trouble for a while, Dustin. Need inspiration for staying at home? Sign up to our Lovin Home Comforts newsletter here.