Two men who run a prominent construction industry podcast that aired remarks about cat-calling and trying to grab women have filed a $15 million defamation lawsuit against a carpenter who criticized the remarks on social media.

The offensive remarks were made on the Toronto-based podcast The Construction Life, which bills itself as shedding light on “the good, the bad, and the ugly” parts of the industry, with the goal of improving the sector.

The podcast’s 145th episode — which featured host Manny Neves and Jim Caruk, a recurring guest on the show, speaking with a plumber, Danny — included the following exchange when it was posted on May 8:

“Today things are different. Like, if you see a sexy woman on the street when we were 20 years old, you whistle. Today you even look at them, you got the cops behind you, they’re charging you. It’s the truth. It’s ridiculous what’s going on today,” Danny says.

“I’d still whistle,” Neves responds.

“Yeah, but …” says Danny before Caruk asks, “Would you whistle?”

“I’d still whistle,” Neves says.

“I’d probably put my hand out a little bit ya know, try to reach or something,” Danny says.

Laughter is heard after that and Neves can be heard saying, “I wouldn’t go that far,” before the men all laugh.

CBC News is not publishing Danny’s full name because he is not part of the legal action.

The lawsuit, filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice on May 28, claims that neither Neves nor Caruk “agreed with or condoned the comments made.” 

That section was edited out of the podcast on May 14 following a complaint from Natasha Fritz, the owner of Natural Carpentry.

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