RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

Have been offline for the last 2 weeks for personal reasons and haven't decided whether to return to boards in a permanent capacity or not yet, but just going to say the following for the moment.

Fionnán Sheahan: I am baffled by Sheahan's newfound support of Tubridy when he broke the story, did 2 if not 3 absolutely damning podcasts on the RTE story with Eamon Dunphy where he filleted Tubridy, on one of those podcasts dissected the "7 untruths" one by one and concluded 2 - at best - were claims that could be partially substantiated, and amongst the many tv shows he appeared on covering the topic gave us one of the more memorable clips with the following:

He went to town on Tubridy and NKM for weeks, Now he's saying Tubridy is "hard done by"? Make up your mind Fionnán. His complete volte face is Olympic-level flip flopping (not to be confused with the flip flops given out at the RTE Summer Party).

Bakhurst: arrived at the right decision but took a rather circuitous route to get there. Deserves some credit, but let's not forget that up until the 11th hour was willing to bring Tubridy back - this despite the fall in Licence Fee revenue, despite the staff "discomfort", and despite political and public outrage. His recent utterances that some of the contracted staff (let'; be honest here, this is NK "talent") have had differing responses to suggested contract renegotiations and his response to same is going to really telling.

I would agree with him on one thing - Tubridy has been badly advised. From the first statements, to the disastrous PAC appearances (which I advised against doing btw, and I'm not a fan), to the "PR" stuff that's been going on for weeks, to the final nail in the coffin statement he's played all of this about as badly as is possible.

Studio: small point: you can't install a "state of the art" studio in a day or two in any house (but particularly an older house like the one Tubridy lives in). Any audiophile would be able to tell you that. Also, you don't even need a studio to do podcats, you just need a good laptop and a good mic.........this is just more exaggerated PR nonsense from the NK stable, like the story how Tubridy was flying to London to meet BBC and ITV in the first couple of weeks after the crisis broke; or how Tubs confronted the tattoo-ed. muscle bound 20-something year old man who called him a bad word...except the 10-14 year old skinny kid who did actually say it had recorded the encounter and posted it on Tik Tok. Calling Tubridy's/NKM's versions of these stories "exaggerated" is being #kind.

PR: the battle re. Tubridy in RTE is mostly over, NKM and Crew are digging in for the long PR war it seems with all remaining NKM "talent" and their extended families it seems being summoned to tell the country what they think.....not that anyone actually asked of course but paper doesn't refuse ink. Jenny McCarthy (wife of another "superstar" 🙄 talent Martin King) and her husband might want to be careful in their invitation to Tubridy to return to the televisual airwaves on VMTV as if such a thing were to happen her husband might be the casualty - WMTV's coffers aren't like those of RTE's. If Tubridy is hired by them, there will be a cut (cuts plural more likely) elsewhere in that organisation. Be careful what you wish for Jenny.

Tubridy's message to Leaving Cert. students: Can people really not see what's going on there? It's as cynical as some of his other stunts designed to portray him a certain light - a light that should have been firmly extinguished after his self-serving and laying it on thick PAC appearances. It's a giant "I know you're dealing with stuff right now, but don't forget about me!" (see video below for more insight into this behaviour). People in this country are baffled by how some Americans vote for Trump no matter what he says or does - yet we have a certain cohort on our own doorstep who seem to believe in the fake and manufactured #kind persona that has been crafted for Tubridy. "Bonkers", as he's say himself. I'd imagine the NKM staffers were very busy deleting the nasty comments from the bag eggs to present the feedback as to make it appear as if his "message" was universally welcomed - it wasn't.

How can people not see through this?

I'll leave you with this for now - as bad and as overpaid as Tubridy was, he's actually a better presenter and gave better value than Joe Duffy.