RTÉ management are under fire after two new radio presenters were taken off the air after being criticised for “virulently sexist” material.
ust three days after their new show began on 2FM, The 2 Johnnies were absent from the airwaves over a video promoting their show Drive It.
The video featuring the podcasters contains several crude references to female genitalia.
The podcast presenters have also now deleted a number of other videos that contained similar content, with references of a sexual nature.
Following the coverage on Independent.ie and the Irish Independent yesterday and a political backlash, RTÉ is conducting “a review” and the presenters were absent from their show on 2FM yesterday.
The comedy duo apologised for the “offensive” content.
The review is expected to focus on issues including possible breaches of the national broadcaster’s social media policy.
RTÉ sources said the matter was being taken seriously.
In a statement, The 2 Johnnies, Johnny O’Brien and Johnny McMahon, said: “We would like to apologise for the content which appeared on our social media, these posts were offensive and should never have been published.
“This is not who we are nor what we stand for.
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“We aim to do better in the future, we are not perfect and we are learning all the time.”
The 2 Johnnies were contacted by the Irish Independent on Wednesday regarding the comments, but did not respond.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the national broadcaster said: “RTÉ believes in dignity and respect and does not tolerate material or attitudes of this nature.
“The 2 Johnnies will not be on air today while we review the matter.” The pair only began hosting the new drivetime show on 2FM under their stage name, The 2 Johnnies, on Monday.
The innuendo-laden video came from The 2 Johnnies podcast, which is separate from their new RTÉ show.
But RTÉ’s 2FM was clearly referenced in the video and in social media posts to promote the RTÉ show: “Drive It with The 2 Johnnies Monday-Friday 3pm-6pm RTÉ 2FM.”
The video has since been deleted. In the video the presenters read out and comment on a series of vulgar car stickers sent in to them by listeners of their podcast.
Among the slogans read out during the piece is “Workin’ the land and droppin’ the hand”; “Tyres are like women, no good unless they are squealing” and “Hocus Pocus, I got your girl in my Focus”.
Other stickers included: “If you can make a girl laugh and giggle, you can make her cheeks clap and wiggle” and “She’s not a princess, she’s a sl*t”.
Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns led the condemnation of the material.
She said RTÉ presenters should be calling out sexist comments, “not laughing along with them and certainly not promoting them”.
Fine Gael joined in the criticism yesterday with TD Ciarán Cannon saying the “licence fee cannot be used to fund an undermining of our ambition to make Ireland a more equal and safer place for women”.
But Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill also raised questions about RTÉ management’s handling of the matter.
“There is a very important question for RTÉ about the sequence of events and what their response was to the queries made by journalists and when they made a decision to take this off air.
“Was it the case that there was a news article published in a prominent newspaper today and RTÉ made a change after that?
“RTÉ was well aware of it, they were aware that the video had been taken down and they still went on air yesterday.”
