Ryan Tubridy asked Jamie Lee O’Donnell the age question…four years ago
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Ryan Tubridy asked Jamie Lee O’Donnell the age question…four years ago
Words: Eva O’Beirne
Ryan Tubridy has come under fire for his treatment of Derry Girls star Jamie Lee O’Donnell on the Late Late Show last Friday – but it isn’t the first time he’s asked what age she is.
Friday’s Late Late Show incident was the second time O’Donnell declined to tell Ryan Tubridy her age – the first being in a 2018 radio interview. The most recent incident occurred on Friday – O’Donnell described the question as “misogynistic”.
Not only is it a failure of RTÉ’s researchers to check Tubridy’s previous interviews with O’Donnell, but it shows how little attention Tubridy pays to his guests.
In 2018, Tubridy asked the question by saying: “You play a 16-year-old, you are what age in real life?”.
“Not 16,” Jamie Lee responded. Ryan then asked: “Are you not going to tell us your age?”.
“Well no, because I think a bit of a big deal was made of it with Nicola [Coughlan] and I don’t think it was very fair.”
“So, it’s just sort of a wee bit unfair and it took away a bit from the performances we were doing,” O’Donnell said.
Tubridy then said: “I’ll just tiptoe away from that now, will I?” before the actress replied: “Yeah, just slightly”.
“I’m 47, just go with that,” O’Donnell said to end the conversation before Tubridy changed the subject.
Instead of having a conversation about double standards when it comes to men and women in the entertainment industry, Ryan elected for the route of “actually there was a compliment coming there… please don’t misunderstand” on Friday.
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