RTE viewers are praising Ryan Tubridy for his ‘powerful’ and emotional speech at the beginning of last night’s show.
He offered his condolences in light of the horrific murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in Sligo earlier this week and sent a message of support to Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community.
Opening the show on Friday night, he said: “We need to begin tonight by being serious for a moment and to acknowledge that it has been a harrowing and at times bewildering week in this country, as you all know.
READ MORE: Thousands turn out to remember Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee as vigils held across Ireland
“Sligo, tonight we’re thinking of everybody in Sligo.
“Sligo is hurting, and to be truthful about it, I think we’re all hurting a little bit after what happened this week in this country.
“I want to say that our sincerest sympathies, and I mean this, tonight go out to the friends and families of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee.
“But also to their neighbours, and to their communities, people who loved them where they lived in Sligo,” he continued.
“It’s a beautiful place, I have been there many many times and I can’t imagine how they are tonight, but we’re sending you all the love we can.”
He then reached out to the members of the LGBTQ+ community across Ireland, “many of whom have been left traumatised by their deaths,” he acknowledged.
“For anyone watching tonight who perhaps, let’s say, was on the verge of coming out, and who now finds themselves terrified, terrified into silence and into secrecy, it’s important to know you’re not alone.
“And I’d like to talk for a minute to the younger members of our audience in particular," he said.
“There is support, and there is advice for lesbian and gay, bi-sexual and trans individuals in this country, there is lots of support and we urge you to seek it out.
“Seek out what you need, it’s all there.
"You deserve to be proud and you deserve to feel pride, and belongto.org is just one example of the many places where you can find support, so please go there.”
Concluding his powerful opening moment, he reiterated that “there is no place for homophobia in Irish society today, none,” and said, “so let’s stand up and be intolerant of it in all its forms.”
Viewers immediately swarmed to the post in support, with many people simply commenting: “So well said.”
Another wrote: “So well said, Ryan, no place for homophobia!!! None”
Meanwhile a third viewer added: “So beautifully said.”
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