Max Clifford calls Prendeville apology “bizarre”

Celebrity PR guru Max Clifford has described Cork 96fm DJ Neil Prendeville’s explanation of events on board an Aer Lingus flight and his apology as “totally bizarre”.

Prendeville was on a flight from London to Cork on the evening of 19 October when he was reported to have exposed himself and started to masterbate. He was sitting with a male passenger on one side and a female on the other. Because he was in a front row seat, the 49-year-old was also facing a pair of air hostesses.

Max Clifford told the Irish Examiner that he finds his apology and explanation puzzling:

"Obviously for Neil it is incredibly damaging and incredibly embarrassing. He is not saying ‘I did anything’, but he wants to apologise to everybody for what is in the Irish Examiner. The whole thing is totally bizarre. Why was he doing what he was doing? What brought it upon (sic)? If every time everybody mixes painkillers with alcohol, it’s just the kind of things they do, which of course isn’t the case. You don’t lose your memory, get it back, lose your memory, you would assume. All in all, it’s a real disaster for him."

Mr Clifford also spoke of the embarrassment both for Mr Prendeville and his employer. "I understand that he takes the moral high ground on most issues on his show. Therefore, you can only assume it is going to be incredibly damaging for him and, in some ways, for the radio station he works for."