The pair fell out eight years ago when the 65-year-old left the hit BBC show.

But now Rory has come to Brendan’s defence on X after the comic got embroiled in a racism row over his use of the N-word in a joke.

Rory said Brendan’s mistake would have happened during the reading of a new script with his wife Jennifer Gibney, who plays Cathy.

It led to a crew member quitting, with Brendan apologising and the BBC holding an inquiry.

Critics of O’Carroll are now demanding the show be axed and he be fired.

But Rory said: “I worked with Brendan for over 25 years and I never got the impression he was in any way racist, sexist or homophobic, etc. And that’s ‘cos he’s not.

“What he did/does is lampoon ­racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. And I love lampoon. It’s the strongest weapon against racism and Brendan was always brilliant at it.

“Brendan tried to lampoon racism and someone got upset and Brendan apologised. Nothing wrong with that.”

BRENDAN’S APOLOGY

Brendan found himself in hot water earlier this week ­following the use of a “racial term” during a script read-through.

The BBC paused rehearsals of the show’s upcoming festive specials to investigate, with the Dublin actor apologising for the slip-up.

He explained in a statement: “At a read-through of the Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas specials, there was a clumsy attempt at a joke, in the character of Agnes, where a racial term was implied.

“It backfired and caused offence which I deeply regret and for which I have apologised.”

RTE star Joe Duffy also weighed in on the controversy, defending the 69-year-old and declaring “there isn’t a racist bone” in his pal’s body.

And speaking to The Irish Sun on Sunday this week — before the racestorm erupted — Brendan called for more tolerance in Ireland following protests outside migrant centres.

‘WE SHOULD KNOW BETTER’

He said: “Immigration is a sore subject but we have to remember what we’re doing in Ireland right now with asylum seekers is what we railed against when it happened to the Irish when they went over to America, and Australia, and I kind of feel that we should know better.”

He added: “Worldwide people are looking at immigrants and asylum seekers and thinking they are taking our jobs.

“But I remember when the Polish people starting arriving in Ireland and friends of mine would say ‘they are taking our jobs’.

“But these friends I’m talking about hadn’t worked in three years. So what job are they taking off you? Will you feck off!”

And Brendan said that instead of giving out about migrants, we should set up systems to make it easier for the younger workers we need in this country as our birth rates decline.

But the Finglas-born funnyman believes anti-migrant marches and protests will continue.

‘WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON’

He said of migration: “It’s a worldwide phenomenon so you can see it’s not just us.

“We have never needed migrants more than we do now. And if you do it that way, why don’t we sit down and decide why don’t we ­handle this better than anyone else does and make a plan on that basis? But it’s tough going.”

And Brendan declared it was ridiculous that migrants are being blamed for Ireland’s housing crisis when it’s a global issue.

He told us: “We tend to be insular — look at our problems and not look over across the water.

LOOKING BACK

“But if you look there, or to America, or across Europe or Australia, every single country has the same problem: a shortage of housing and an influx of immigrants.

“We were warned 20 years ago that this was going to happen. That climate change is going drive people crazy.

“And that they would start migrating to places with a better climate and more chance of work. But our politicians are doing their best to sort it out.”