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05th Aug 2011

RTE removes link to offensive John Murray Show sketch

RTE has removed links from its website to the show which caused so much offence to Mickey Harte that the Tyrone manager ceased all communication with the national broadcaster.

JOE

RTE has removed links from its website to the show which caused so much offence to Mickey Harte that the Tyrone manager ceased all communication with the national broadcaster.

Harte and his players have refused to offer any post-match reaction to RTE this summer and the Red Hand manager will once again blank the station’s representatives before and after Saturday evening’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin.

The triple All-Ireland winning boss released a statement earlier today in which he outlined the reasons behind the row with RTE, namely the leaking of a letter which criticised the station for its treatment of experienced commentator Brian Carthy and a comedy sketch which included the song “Pretty Little Girl from Omagh”, seen as particularly insensitive less than six months after the murder of Harte’s daughter Michaela in Mauritius.

The broadcaster has since blocked YouTube clips of the sketch in question, which was broadcast on the John Murray Show on Radio 1 on Thursday 9 June.

RTE also removed the playback link from the show’s archives on its website, as well as releasing a statement in which it said it sincerely regretted any offence caused.

The RTE statement reads:

“RTÉ Radio 1’s John Murray Show presents, each morning, a satirical and humorous synopsis of the day’s big news stories. On June 9 the programme covered a widely reported controversy involving Mickey Harte.

“RTÉ understands and appreciates that the item offended Mr Harte. It is never RTÉ’s intention to knowingly offend any individual, and RTÉ sincerely regrets any offence caused. This sincere regret was immediately and personally communicated to Mr Harte by RTÉ management.

“RTÉ wishes to clarify that it did not leak the contents of the letter referred to in today’s statement by the Tyrone GAA Senior Football Management and Players. RTÉ treated the correspondence as private and confidential, and was mindful of the need for discretion in all public statements it was called upon to make.

“It is RTÉ’s hope that, in the public interest of all those who follow gaelic games, the matter can be resolved.”

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