RTE Late Late Show viewers left divided as Brendan O'Carroll has ...
RTE viewers were left divided after Brendan O'Carroll appeared on the Late Late Show tonight.
It was the first time the Dublin born writer and actor made a public appearance since landing himself in hot water, after the BBC halted filming of his hit comedy show after he made a racial remark.
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The 69-year-old used an offensive term during a read-through for the show's Christmas special, prompting an immediate response from the BBC.
Sources revealed those present were shocked by the remark and subsequently raised their concerns with the BBC.
As a result, rehearsals for the Christmas special were temporarily halted while an urgent investigation took place.
Host Patrick Kielty brought up the report in tonight's interview and prompted Brendan to explain himself.
The comedian replied: "Ah, Jesus. Here's what happened. I had decided in Mrs Brown's, one of the episodes... I like to poke fun at, particularly at people who marginalise other people.
"So you have, when Mrs Brown found out her son was gay, I went with that story, but I showed how she didn't get it.
"She didn't understand gay. Now, she now knows her son is gay and accepts it, but still doesn't know what gay is.
"And it was kind of like that. I wanted to poke fun at intergenerational racism, how Mrs Brown doesn't get racism.
"She doesn't know what racism is. So it's kind of like, 'Eeny meeny miny moe, catch a...', and I got as far as 'Ni'… and as in the script, Cathy stopped Mrs Brown and goes, 'Mammy, you can't say that'.
"And we went on and we did the rest of the run-through."
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Brendan explained how the next day the director told them that a kid "who was at the reading" was offended.
He said: "The readings are to find out exactly what you can and can't say. So there's always a BBC executive there who goes, 'No, you can't say that', 'Oh, you can say that', 'No, you can't say that'.
"Everybody laughed. We just, and at the end of it, we clapped. But then I found out that he had been offended by it."
Brendan said he sent an apology email to the person "immediately" and added: "I don't want to offend anybody. I'm not that guy. I believe that the workplace should be a happy place, not just for us, but for everybody."
Patrick asked Brendan if he could see why the joke could cause offence, and he replied: "Oh yeah, that's why I apologised. Otherwise I wouldn't have apologised. If I thought he was spoofing, I would have gone, 'F*** him'. But no, no, I completely get it."
Brendan then explained the "joke" further saying: "I actually expected them to finish it in their head. But I expected it to be that they finished it in their head and realised, 'Oh, she doesn't get it'. But listen, it was a gag that backfired.
"It landed on its a**. I landed on my a**. You had Ukraine, you had Gaza, you had American election, but I ended up on the front page of the English papers for a week. So I obviously deserved it.
"But I apologise."
BRENDAN'S APOLOGYPatrick replied: "So you accept you got that wrong?"
Brendan responded saying: "Oh God, Jesus, yeah. But that's what you do. You're a comedian, you try something on the edge. It doesn't work, you don't do it."
He recalled another time where he attempted a skit that didn't land and said: "And then on reflection you go, what was I f***ing thinking?"
Patrick picked up on what he said and asked him: "So it's that thing, it's not that you're sorry that they were offended, it's you're sorry that you got it wrong?"
Brendan replied: "No, no, I'm sorry they were offended. I wouldn't offend anybody. As I said, look, the workplace is supposed to be a happy place. And that doesn't mean happy for me.
"Happy for everybody. I was disgusted with myself that I offended him. Absolutely disgusted. And I apologised to him."
CONTROVERSIAL CHATBrendan also asked Paddy if he had ever "got it wrong", to which Paddy said: "I think people tonight have seen me get it wrong about a dozen times".
The interview went on for a while longer, to which Brendan attempted to explain his side of the story and said it got "blown out of proportion" after being "leaked to the press".
The actor spoke a bit about the comedy world and how it's "harder" nowadays to not offend somebody.
Brendan finished off his interview saying: "All they can do is be as funny as I can be and hope the audience agree. And if they don't, the door swings both ways."
Patrick replied: "Thank you so much for coming in. If anyone was offended by anything that was discussed tonight, it's important that we have the context of the story."
FAN DEBATEAnd RTE viewers were left majorly divided in opinions on Brendan after the show tonight.
Colm wrote: "Fair play to Brendan O Carroll for accepting he got it wrong. Not enough people accept when they get it wrong anymore."
Davis said: "What f***ing happened there? I know they thought Brendan O'Carroll is funny and he’ll be great to wrap up the show. That plan completely backfired."
Gerry added: "Brendan O'Carroll's joke that offended was all blown out of proportion and should of been handled much better.
"Comedy nowadays is different to years ago when any type of bad language was hardly used. Nowadays it's certainly not for the easily offended."
Tim said: "No fan of Mrs Brown, but Brendan handled that 'interview' really well tonight. This need to contextualise, apologise for and explain jokes is ridiculous and embarrassing. Kielty knows this but they make him say 'take it all on context'."
One viewer tweeted: "That was a slow car crash that kept happening even tho everyone wanted it to stop but couldn’t stop it."
Another said: "This is an absolute car crash. How are you letting this run? #latelate."
