Tiernan publicly apologises for zoo taxi joke
TOMMY Tiernan has broken his silence and publicly apologised to RTE star Emer O’neill over a joke during one of his gigs.
Emer told us how she was left upset and walked out of Tiernan’s Vicar Street show in the capital on January 6 after the Navan funnyman made a joke about Dublin Zoo and taxi drivers.
Presenter Emer told us how she had received an apology from Tiernan last week via email and on the phone – but now the comedian has made a public statement addressing the furore.
He said in the statement: “On Friday the 6th of January, Tommy told a joke on stage as part of his stand-up routine.
“As soon as he received a complaint, he spoke to that audience member to understand where he went wrong. He immediately removed the joke from the act and apologised both personally by phone and email and publicly by addressing it on stage the following night and every night since reiterating his apology.
“Tommy does not condone any negative online comments received by this audience member and most definitely not in his defence.”
The statement was read out by host Claire Byrne on her RTE Radio 1 show while Emer was also in studio.
Emer, left, who had no idea Tommy had sent in a public statement, said it was “great to hear that”.
She added: “Because that’s the first I’ve heard and that’s the first public statement I’ve heard from anyone affiliated with him.
“But it’s not me who needs it. I believe he has apologised to me, and I am very thankful for that but it is not only me that was affected by this.”