2FM boss Dan Healy has revealed he was never going to sack the 2 Johnnies for their reading of offensive remarks about women on their own independent podcast prior to their RTE debut.
The Tipperary pair were signed by 2FM earlier this year but were suspended just days into their tenure for offensive remarks sent in by some listeners of their separate 2 Johnnies podcast not affiliated with RTE.
These comments then appeared in a promo for the pair’s Monday to Friday slot on the station.
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In the post, the 2 Johnnies, whose real names are John O’Brien and John McMahon, read and discussed crude slogans on car stickers sent in by listeners.
Among the vulgar slogans discussed were, “Tyres are like women, no good unless they are squealing”, and “She’s not a princess, she’s a sl*t”.
Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns said at the time the comments by the 2 Johnnies were “blatantly sexist”, as the row rumbled on for several days.
And despite the uproar, their boss Dan said he was never going to sack them.
He told us: “Not at all. Of course, you can say things on the first day that can get you sacked but on that I think we saw that as a mistake.
“No I was absolutely thrilled. You can’t beat the front pages.”
He defended the comedy duo saying they weren’t being misogynistic with their gaffe - saying it doesn’t “represent who they are as men”.
“I think the issue - that is the serious issue - was the issue of misogyny, which I don’t believe they were.”
Dan said it had taken him ages to negotiate with them to join the station and was excited when they agreed.
“They’ve had this astonishing run… that was a shock actually. That came from nowhere. We were so excited they were coming. It took us a while to do the negotiations. It was the first time that I had done a deal with two presenters that weren’t on another radio station who had high profiled independent income flying along from their podcast and live events.
“Then they came they’re on air for about 30 mins and next thing we get an email asking if we had seen the social media posts.
“It doesn’t represent who they are as men whatsoever.
“But we took that seriously,” he added.
Their Drive It show on 2FM was quickly benched, but later returned following a brief suspension.
But the pair made light of the furore on Angela Scanlon’s Ask Me Anything earlier this month.
Johnny B said at the time: “If you’re not getting into trouble every week, you’re not doing your job right — we did our job too well!”
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