DUSTIN THE TURKEY recently drew the ire of Niall Horan fans (or stans) after a joke he made on RTÉ Does Comic Relief.

The line-up included Horan performing his song Black and White on the Den’s Talent on the Telly segment.

However, he was interrupted by Dustin halfway through the song, with the turkey shouting: “We wanted Harry Styles [another One Direction member]. You’re only getting a minute-and-a-half. I didn’t realise people from Mullingar had teeth.”

The Horan fans were outraged, calling for the turkey’s head. What they seem not to have realised is that Dustin has said far worse things about celebrities in the past – remember the time he said President Mary Robinson had smelly feet?

And where was this kind of devoted fandom when the offensive bird was throwing digs at members of another well-loved boyband?

Let’s take a look back at just some of those instances…

‘Looking rough’

In 2008, Dustin interviewed Westlife at a Childline event, starting off by greeting Kian Egan by telling him he was “looking very rough”. 

And on it went…

“Mark how are you? You’re my favourite in the band, you’re Mr Personality – crack a joke go on.”

“Nicky where’d you get the teeth done – turn out the lights see if we can still see his teeth, you could light up the M1.”

When Dustin was interviewed on The One Show ahead of his Eurovision performance, Westlife were also in the studio.

When asked ‘Why does the Eurovision need you this year?’, he responded:

That’s a bit of a silly question. I mean why does Terry Wogan need a wig? Why do Westlife need singing lessons? Why does Gordon Brown need to smile? They just need me.

On one Late Late Show – then hosted by Pat Kenny, who Dustin said was a bigger turkey than he was – Dustin took aim at the lads again.

Poor Kian Egan always seemed to get it worst: “How are ya Kian? Yeah brutal, rubbish, yeah, yeah.”

“What is it with that smile of yours Nicky, show us. You could land a plane with those white teeth. Do you paint them gloss?”

And again in 2008 – this seems to have been a particularly bad year for his relationship with the boyband -  he appeared on an X-Factor panel with Shane Filan and Louis Walsh. 

“I’d love to see Louis manage a talented band with four people in it,” he told presenter Holly Willoughby before turning to Filan and adding:

You’re alright, you’re the singer in the band, the other three don’t even have their microphones on! When’s the last time Kian Egan actually sang a note?

After all of that, the old turkey seems to have softened with age – he offered what was almost an apology to Niall Horan fans at the weekend.

The Westlife lads, however, are still waiting for theirs.