An emotional Ryan Tubridy has said he can barely leave his house over the pay scandal as he told TDs and Senators he could be out of a job by Friday.
During two gruelling appearances at Oireachtas committees, the star and agent Noel Kelly laid the blame for the debacle a the feet of RTE. During the Public Accounts Committee, Mr Tubridy appeared to be close to tears several times during his opening statement yesterday.
He said: “My name has been desperately sullied, I think my reputation has been sullied… this has become beyond difficult.”
He then slammed RTE management, saying: “If they hadn’t rushed everything out 99 per cent of this wouldn’t be an issue... If they’d simply asked the questions... I hid nothing and I have nothing to hide.”
Read more: RTE rejects claims made by Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly over payments scandal
Mr Tubridy, 50, lamented that the controversy had been difficult for him to deal with and he believed he had been “publicly cancelled”. He told the PAC: “I’m deeply upset. I’m hurt. It’s hard to leave the house if you really want me to be honest about it.
“People here have families. This is my first rodeo being in the public eye [like this]. I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t know if any of you’ve been cancelled before but let me tell you, you don’t want to be there.”
The national broadcaster first revealed almost three weeks ago that Mr Tubridy had received payments worth €345,000 that had not been declared. There was also controversy around RTE’s decision to underwrite a €75,000 commercial deal with Renault.
The national broadcaster stated numerous times they were concerned Mr Tubridy would be poached. However, Mr Kelly told Fianna Fail’s Shane Cassells there were no other offers on the table when contract negotiations started in late 2019.
“Had your agent informed you, Mr Tubridy, of any potential answers from other parties in the media sphere?” Mr Tubridy replied: “Not that I’m aware of at this point.” During the lengthy hearings, Mr Tubridy said several times while he would like to return to RTE, he is unsure if he will be back.
He added: “It has been a long three weeks. I am getting paid. It is written in my contract. [The contract] is being currently… They have suspended the negotiations.
“I could be out of a job Friday or I could be back next Monday.” When asked if all of the money from the Toy Show Appeal goes to charity, Mr Tubridy said it was “one of the greatest legacies I’ll have, even if I am given the boot from RTE on Friday”.
Mr Kelly and Mr Tubridy stated the deal with Renault was with RTE and that they were not involved in organising the arrangement. Renault had agreed to pay Mr Tubridy €75,000 a year for appearances, but pulled out after year one.
RTE had underwritten the agreement and paid €150,000 to cover the loss in 2021 and 2022. There are six engagements still to take place under the Renault deal.
Asked what would happen if they did not take place, Mr Tubridy said he will hand back the money, which is resting in Tuttle Productions’ accounts. However, he contended he was willing to do the appearances if he was asked to do so. Mr Tubridy said he and his team were given little notice before RTE published a statement on June 22 revealing that his salary was wrong.
He added: “We were given approximately 30 minutes’ warning from RTE to say this bomb was about to be let off. We looked at it and said, ‘Well, you can’t because you’re putting out all this information, so much of which we can counter and clarify’.
“Our statement, the first one you’re referring to, went out saying we can’t shed any light because we couldn’t.”
Asked by Fianna Fail Senator Malcolm Byrne if he was without blame, Mr Tubridy said he should have said publicly his declared salary was not correct. While the issue was raised with RTE, Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly acknowledged that reputational damage could have been avoided if it was made known publicly.
During his opening remarks, Mr Tubridy chose to apologise to the country for the scandal, including his radio team and RTE colleagues. He said he hoped his appearance would change the public narrative over the controversy. Mr Tubridy added: “When the feather leaves the pillow, it’s very hard to get that back. Unfortunately, with my good name, the feather has left the pillow.”
He also called on the national broadcaster to stop referring to its most highly paid stars as “talent” as he stated he hoped this controversy would be “cathartic” for RTE. Mr Tubridy added: “There’s a lot of talk today about the talent in RTE. I hate being referred to as ‘the talent’.
“I think it’s an obscene, outdated word. The talent in RTE work, as you know, in reception, and they work in security, and in make-up, in hair, and sound, and camera, and production. That’s the talent.
“If we do anything to change the language around RTE, please take that silly word off the contracts going forward. They’re colleagues. Nobody is better than anyone else.”
He once more denied the scandal had anything to do with his decision to quit the Late Late, saying he had made that call last year.
Mr Tubridy has gone to ground since the controversy broke. He has only been seen twice, once when he posed for photographers the day after the scandal emerged and at the weekend when he was snapped out jogging with a female.
However, Mr Tubridy claims that he has the support of the nation behind him. He told the committee: “Decent Irish citizens who have taken my arm, my shoulder and said, ‘you’ll get through this’.
He also pleaded with “the country, my listeners” to give him a chance as he said he desperately wants to go back to presenting his radio show, adding: “It’s all I’ve got.”
Green TD Marc O Cathasiagh told Tubridy at PAC that fans simply don’t believe him any more.
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