UNDERFIRE Mrs Brown’s Boys comic Brendan O’Carroll has doubled down on his recent race row in a new interview.

The Bafta-winning star was last month forced to apologise for making a racist joke but has now declared the backlash a “good thing” for the BBC.

Crew were left “shocked” when O’Carroll made a racial slur during rehearsals for the beloved comedy’s Christmas special and complained to bosses.

Production was suspended whilst the Beeb launched an investigation and he later said he “deeply regretted” his “clumsy attempt at a joke”.

But now the comedian, 69, has seemingly dismissed the outcry.

And he’s shared his belief the BBC came out of it well, as it showed they took action.

Brendan said: “The one thing that that incident did is give great awareness about racism, and great awareness about the BBC, they don’t take any messing,

“The context of it… it was completely taken out of context

“However I think in the long run it was a good thing, because it got people talking about it.”

Brendan was speaking for the first time about the row on an Irish YouTube show, Conversations With Gerry Kelly.