Joe Brolly apologises to presenter Rachel Wyse amid Sky sexism row

RTE’s Joe Brolly is in hot water after making a "crass" comment about Sky presenter Rachel Wyse.

Wed, 21 May, 2014 - 01:00

Kelly O'Brien

Yesterday, the pundit took to Twitter to say: "SKY = TV3 plus Baywatch babe" in reference to Wyse and her place on the Sky Sports GAA panel.

Brolly has been highly critical of the Sky GAA deal in which the broadcaster secured exclusive rights for the 14 All-Ireland games this year.

Though his negative opinions of the deal are shared by many, his latest comments have resulted in an incredible amount of backlash.

Angry Twitter users hit back at Brolly's 'sexist' remark one giving out to him for 'belittling a woman', while another agreed with his stance on the controversial deal but asking him to 'lay off the sexism'.

Brolly tried to further explain his statement this morning when he tweeted: "SKY's entrenched beautiful anchor formula is shamelessly sexist, designed for their overwhelmingly male audience. That is the point."

He did, however, delete his original tweet and followed up with an apology to Rachel Wyse.

He said: "Rachel, I apologise for the remark about a "Baywatch babe" . It was not meant to be personal but it was crass & wrong of me.

"It was no reflection on your abilities as a presenter or at least I didn't mean it to be. I apologise. It will not be repeated."

@RACHEL_WYSE It was no reflection on your abilities as a presenter or at least I didn't mean it to be. I apologise. It will not be repeated
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) May 21, 2014

Wyse has not yet directly responded to the comments , the backlash, or the public apology, but has said she is "well aware" of Brolly's remarks over the last couple of weeks.