The move comes after comments made by George Hook on the subject of rape on Friday.
Dalata, the hotel group that sponsors George Hook's High Noon show on Newstalk, says it will cancel its agreement with the station in the wake of Hook's comments on rape on Friday.
Both Hook and Newstalk
have apologised for the remarks, in which he attached blame to the victim of an alleged rape in the United Kingdom. JOE published
this piece in response on Friday evening.
Dalata chief executive Pat McCann said on Sunday night that his company would no longer work with the Dublin-based radio station.
“We will be attempting to end our commercial relationship with Newstalk first thing in the morning. We can’t be associated with either a presenter or a station that allows those kind of comments," he stated.
In his broadcast on Friday, Hook asked a number of questions that suggested the girl at the centre of the allegations was responsible for the events that unfolded.
“Why does a girl who just meets a fella in a bar go back to a hotel room?" he asked.
"She’s only just barely met him, she has no idea of his health conditions, she has no idea who he is, she has no idea of what dangers he might pose, but modern day social activity means that she goes back with him, then is SURPRISED when someone comes into the room and rapes her.
“Should she be raped? Of course she shouldn’t. Isn’t she entitled to say no? Of course she is. Is the guy who came in a scumbag? Certainly. Should he go to jail? Of course. All those things."
He then asked the question at the very centre of the controversy, with the
Dublin Rape Crisis commenting that questions such as the following could lead to under-reporting of sexual assaults to the authorities.
“But is there no blame now to the person who puts themselves in danger?" asked Hook.
“You then, of course, read that she passed out in the toilet and when she woke up the guy was trying to rape her. There is personal responsibility, because it’s your daughter and it’s my daughter and what determines the daughter that goes out, gets drunk, passes out and is with strangers in a room and the daughter that goes out and stays half-way sober and comes home? I don’t know. I wish I knew."
Noeline Blackwell, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, told the Irish Times: “When someone is raped the only person responsible is the rapist.”
