Taxi firm Free Now strikes six-figure sponsorship deal with RTE after racist Tommy Tiernans joke

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Free Now, the taxi platform, has withdrawn its six-figure sponsorship of The Tommy Tiernan Show on RT following a joke the presenter made about taxi drivers and Dublin Zoo.

The joke, which was made by Tiernan at a comedy gig in Dublin’s Vicar Street, prompted RTE presenter Emer ONeill to come out.

Afterwards, she said she considered the joke to be overtly racist.

In a statement to the Sunday Independent over the weekend, a representative from the taxi company said:

As a recent sponsor of the Tommy Tiernan Show on RT, we were disappointed with the comments made at his Vicar Street gig regarding taxi drivers.

Free Now works closely with taxi drivers across the country to provide an important transport service for passengers across Ireland.

Prejudices of any kind towards taxi drivers are unacceptable. We decided to wrap up our sponsorship of the show last week, but will continue to work with RT on other projects in the future.

In 2019, RTE announced that it was seeking 120,000 sponsorships for the prime time box. The slot’s value has reportedly increased significantly since given the steadily rising viewing figures.

In a statement over the weekend, a spokesperson for the state broadcaster said: RT can confirm that Free Now has decided not to continue its sponsorship of The Tommy Tiernan Show on RT One. We look forward to working with Free Now again in the future.

After the stand-up concert, ONeill said his heart sank when Tiernan began telling the audience a joke about Dublin Zoo, saying: My daughter told me not to tell that joke.

The PE teacher and activist shared her experience, saying: He starts the joke, and he starts talking about nun-like penguins with the rosary and I thought that was sweet and I laugh.

Then he talks about wolves and how ferocious or strong they are (reminding him of the Irish) – all paraphrase because it just happened and then he leaves so I went to the African savannah and my heart sank is a bit tight as soon as I heard the word Africa.

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I just thought please don’t do this to me. I’m literally one of the only people of color sitting here full of a room of white people.

And then came the savannah and the taxi drivers. He acknowledged that the room was full of white people and said everyone was laughing, so it must not have been a racist joke.

The Bray native walked out of the event, admitting she was hesitant to get up immediately in case she was heckled.

After the incident, the presenter confirmed that she received an email from Tiernan in which he apologized and suggested we speak by phone as well.

He told her she was right to call him and take a stand and admitted her joke was offensive.

He called me that day and we talked for almost an hour. And it was a very positive conversation as far as I’m concerned. He talked a lot. He expressed things to me that I found so powerful, ONeill told RTs Today with Claire Byrne.

Independent.ie has contacted Tommy Tiernan for comment.

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