Colm O'Regan: 'I think the Men in Stripey Shirts are hugely important to this country'
The ‘Matt LeBlanc From Friends Is Your Irish Uncle’ story may already be fading.
In a way, I’m already too late. The ‘Matt LeBlanc From Friends Is Your Irish Uncle’ story may already be fading. His stripy shirt, black slacks, hand-in-pocket show-stealing performance at the Friends Reunion must be shelved now until Reeling In The Years gets to 2021 (Tuesday week). I had expected that would happen because of a Backlash. You’ll be familiar with the backlash cycle. A Thing Happens. Most people agree that it’s Generally A Good Thing. Then someone writes a column about Why The Good Thing Is Bad. Then there is a backlash to that backlash. Someone says ‘Be kind’ and we all move onto the next thing to be unkind about.
But at the time of writing, there are no articles about Why The Joey Uncle Meme is Actually An Example of Toxic Masculinity. No, what killed it was it became too official. The Gardaà used it in one tweet but worse Fine Gael used it in a tweet about canvassing at the Dublin South Posh bye-election. Which is funny in a way because thanks largely to Fine Gael policies, Joey Tribiani, a sometime actor without rich parents, could never have afforded to live anywhere in that constituency.
