BYE GEORGE Crowning around..
Controversial Hook retiring from Newstalk after 16yrs next month
RAPE storm George Hook will hang up his mic at Newstalk at the end of his contract next month.
He has been with the station for 16 years and will present his last show in December.
The 77-year-old has hosted the evening drivetime programme The Right Hook, High Noon and most recently Hook’s Saturday Sit In.
Chief Patricia Monahan said: “George has been with Newstalk since we launched in 2002 and in the intervening 16 years has made a great contribution to the station.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank him and wish him well in his retirement.”
Mr Hook was infamously suspended for three months last September after suggesting a rape victim had to bear some responsibility for her attack.
The outspoken radio star was subsequently dropped from his High Noon slot and replaced by Dr Ciara Kelly.
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland later ruled he had failed to correct his offensive comments “in a timely manner,” upholding the complaint.
He said at the time: “It was live radio, I made a mistake, I’ve apologised, and I will again if you want me to. But what am I going to do now?
“Do I not go to the golf club and play a round of golf? Do I not go to Supervalu to do the shopping? Does my whole life stop? No, my life goes on.
“I paid a fairly high price. I just think, it’s done. For me there’s more to George Hook than one comment in September.”
Mr Hook was at the centre of another social media storm in January after claiming he has a soft spot for murderous tyrant General Franco.
DICTATOR
The controversial presenter used his Twitter account to defend the brutal Spanish fascist leader claiming he is his “favourite benevolent dictator”.
The former rugby pundit found himself in hot water again as recently as last month when he was branded “disgraceful” over comments he made about Chineseirish schoolboy Eric Zhi Ying Zue, who was facing deportation.
He tweeted: “With trolley numbers at world record levels, Minister @ Simonharristd is worried about a Chinese boy. The Chinese boy is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice not Health.”