Derry Girl slates Ryan’s Late Late age query
A SEEMINGLY innocuous question about a Derry Girl actor’s age on the Late Late Show sparked a social media storm this weekend.
Twitter lit up after Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, who plays schoolgirl Michelle Mallon on the hugely popular show, refused to answer presenter Ryan Tubridy when he asked her about her age on Friday night’s show.
The 30-year-old actor jokingly said she was 117 before telling Tubridy that his question was ‘misogynistic.’
She said: ‘This is the thing about it that gets on my nerves a wee bit, no disrespect. It’s always quite misogynistic even if it’s unintentionally because men don’t get the same scrutiny in their career.’
However, Tubridy assured her that he would have asked her male colleagues the same question and said he meant it to be a compliment that she was able to play a teenager ‘so well’.
He said: ‘I was saying that you are great characters playing teenagers.
‘That’s what I was getting at – the fact that you’re of a certain age and play teenagers and do it so well.
‘Actually there was a compliment coming there. Please don’t misunderstand.’
The tense exchange created a storm on social media.
One woman tweeted: ‘Good on Jamie-Lee O’Donnell because that’s an issue we need to start tackling the good old “oh I didn’t mean anything by that” comments.’
‘Tubridy hoping the ground opens up as Jamie-Lee O’Donnell calls him out on his misogynistic question on her age,’ another wrote.