Off the Hook
High Noon is scrapped… but the presenter will be back on Newstalk with a weekend show in December
GEORGE Hook’s lunchtime show has been axed following his controversial comments on rape, Newstalk has announced.
However, the broadcaster will return in a reduced role in December when he will front a new weekend programme for the station.
The 76-year-old presenter was suspended by Newstalk amid a storm of controversy last week after he appeared to suggest on his High Noon show that some of the blame in cases of rape lay at the victim’s door.
Yesterday, Newstalk issued a statement saying his flagship midday programme would be scrapped but that Hook will return to the airwaves in three months’ time.
‘Newstalk has now concluded the process which reviewed the circumstances that led to George Hook’s comments on rape recently,’ the statement read.
‘The station confirms that George Hook will be stepping down from his lunchtime slot. He will return to the station in December 2017 when he will take on a new weekend show.
‘Newstalk will shortly be announcing a replacement for the lunchtime show.’
The controversy began when Hook discussed the case of a 19-year-old woman who alleged she was raped by a former member of the British swim team after she had consensual sex with his friend.
He asked: ‘Why does a girl who just meets a fella in a bar go back to a hotel room?
‘She’s only just barely met him, she has no idea of his health conditions, she has no idea who he is, she has no idea of what dangers he might pose, but modern-day social activity means that she goes back with him, then is surprised when someone comes into the room and rapes her.
‘But is there no blame now to the person who puts themselves in danger?’
Before being taken off air, the presenter issued an unreserved apology, saying: ‘I made comments about rape on the programme that were totally inappropriate and unacceptable and I should never have made them.’
However, singer Mary Coughlan, who walked off a separate Newstalk show a week ago in protest at Hook’s comments, told the Irish Daily Mail yesterday that she was unhappy that Hook would ultimately return to the station.
She said: ‘I’m disgusted and horrified and really, really saddened for all the victims of rape up and down the country. I just can’t believe that it has happened.
‘I have hundreds of letters and emails from women who have been abused and feel very upset by his remarks. I can’t believe Newstalk would have him back.’
The National Women’s Council of Ireland yesterday called on Newstalk to issue guidelines for their broadcasters when discussing and reporting on domestic and sexual violence.
Director Orla O’Connor said: ‘Given that he will return to the station in three months, and also given the fact that Mr Hook has made victim-blaming comments on more than one occasion, NWCI believes the station must issue presenters with guidelines for how to discuss and report on domestic and sexual violence.’
It’s believed Newstalk will choose a woman to replace Mr Hook, with Dr Ciara Kelly the early favourite.
Dr Kelly, who is known from her role on RTÉ’s Operation Transformation and was a regular guest on Hook’s show, has been filling in for him during his suspension.
‘The station must issue guidelines’