Emer O'Neill calls on Tommy Tiernan to make public statement after 'powerful' apology
Tommy Tiernan reached out to Emer O'Neill privately to apologise for the joke
RTÉ presenter Emer O'Neill has called on Tommy Tiernan to make a public statement after he said to her in a private phone call that a joke he told during a recent gig was offensive.
The former presenter and teacher walked out of one of the comedian's Vicar Street shows earlier this month after he made a joke that she described as racist and offensive.
After the gig, the RTÉ star shared a post on her Instagram about the joke, which she said he started by acknowledging" "My daughter told me I shouldn't tell this joke".
The comedian has since removed the joke from his set and contacted O'Neill personally to apologise, acknowledging that the joke was offensive.
Speaking on on Friday, Ms O'Neill said she spoke to the comedian for almost an hour on the phone, and she felt his apology was "genuine" and that it was clear he had done some "reflection" on the joke in the days since.
"It was a very positive conversation as far as I'm concerned. He did a lot of talking. He expressed things to me that I just felt were so powerful.
"One of the things he said to me was that as a middle-aged white man, he did not have the right to decide what was and wasn't offensive to an ethnic minority group considering he has no lived experience as one.
"I thought wow.. it was clear that he had done some reflection, he really did."
The mother-of-two said she also asked host whether he would consider making a public statement.
"I did say to Tommy, this realisation and the reflection that you've done here and the things that you have said to me are so powerful, for you to make a public statement to that effect would really change the mindset of so many, your followers, the people of Ireland."
Ms O'Neill said she also felt a public apology would help members of her community and allies to have "courage" to stand up for what is right "even if it's not the most popular opinion".
"I really felt like there's some change that's happened here. The effect that could have on our country could be so huge.
Claire Byrne then read a statement from Tommy Tiernan's team, which reiterated that the comedian had apologised to Ms O'Neill via email and a phone call, that he had removed the joke from his set, and that he has addressed the joke on stage in subsequent shows.
In response, Ms O'Neill said, "he's apologized to me, and I'm very thankful for that. But it is not only me that was affected by this.
"An apology to me is one thing, but when so many other people are affected by this. It's no good to just apologize to me. There is an entire community that have suffered from this.
"This was traumatic and triggering for people from our community, because they had to read things like 'you Africans all need to go back to your own country, we don't want you here'. They saw all of the threats, they saw the vile nature and the commentary from their fellow Irishmen.
"So I appreciate the apology to me personally, but I believe it would be an amazing thing for him to make a statement to the rest of Ireland so that our community can heal from that."
Ms O'Neill said the comments she and others in her community have faced following her initial Instagram post have been "horrific" and "an absolute disgrace".
"It turned from a singular attack against me to 'they're not real Irish, they're wannabes, and they wouldn't get our Irish humor, and there are plenty of boats and planes that they can get on and go back to Africa'.
"Over the course of many social media outlets, there's probably about 6,000 comments, and 99% of those comments are negative, are of the commentary of 'you need to go back to your own country and leave Ireland to the Irish'.
"It really has shown how racism is so ingrained in our society, whether we want to admit it or not."
"And it's not bots, it's not fake counts. It's not random trolls.
"When you click on the comments. It'll bring you to a page where it'll say, member of Facebook since 2009. Their profile picture is them with their kids. They are real people and they actually have no shame in saying these things."
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