Tommy’s cow joke leaves MP udderly unimpressed
TOMMY Tiernan caused a stir with a politician after his “Fenian cow” joke left an MP un-amoosed. The 47-year-old made fun of Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster by pretending she worked on a farm in South Fermanagh on live radio. The gag forced BBC chiefs to apologise and remove the clip from its online catch-up service. Tiernan appeared on Mark Patterson’s show on BBC Radio Foyle on Tuesday, where he said he was interested in Foster. He added: “If she wasn’t in politics I can see her working single-handedly on a tiny little farm in South Fermanagh driving cattle up some country lane.” Imitating a back-andforth with the politician, he said: “Go on you pups, you fenian b ****** s ye, go up you fenian. “Friesian, Arlene, they are called Friesian, Arlene. “I will call them what I want.” Objections were raised by MP Gregory Campbell who told The Belfast News Letter: “His humour can be quite lively if it is delivered and taken in the spirit it is intended it to be. “But some of that stuff appears to be, in terms if the language used anyway, almost deliberately provocative to try to engender some sort of outrage.” The BBC apologised and a spokesman said: “The language used by our guest was clearly inappropriate. “We unreservedly apologise for its use and any offence caused.“