Trolls target Tubs over his story about man who lost everything
Parallels made with RTE scandal
RYAN Tubridy came under fire after talking about a man who lost everything, with trolls drawing parallels with how his RTE career ended.
The former Late Late Show host was asked what books are easy reads for newcomers during a segment on his new Virgin Radio UK Show.
He recommended The Diving Bell and Butterfly, written by a magazine editor who suffered a stroke and dictated the book by blinking.
Speaking
earlier
this week,
Tubridy said: “I’m gonna recommend one for you because this is a book that I found life-changing.
“[The Diving Bell and Butterfly is] about 100 pages. It’s about a guy who was doing really well in the magazine business in Paris.
“He gets an injury and something terrible happens to him and he gets locked-in syndrome.
“In order words, he’s locked inside of his body, but he can still think like everyone else. The only way he can communicate is by blinking. So he blinks this book, that’s why it’s so short.”
But trolls were quick to draw parallels with the tale and the secret payment scandal which effectively ended Tubridy’s career at RTE after he was paid €150,000 as part of the now infamous tripartite deal involving Renault.
On Tiktok, one social media user quipped: “That’s a good story about the guy who was doing really well and lost everything. Did he also have to pay back €150k?”
Somebody else asked if “Virgin Radio have a barter account” – a reference to how the additional money was paid to Tubridy.
One said he was a “bore” and another: “Anyone who supports this lad doesn’t know him at all.”
But Tubridy, 50, still had supporters. One Tiktok user said: “Tubridy was made a scapegoat for the culture of RTE senior management over the last 30 years.”