RTÉ presenter Emer O' Neill has said her family has been threatened following backlash over calling out a racist joke at one of Tommy Tiernan's stand-up shows.
The subsequent kickback after Emer revealed she walked out of one of Tommy's Vicar Street gigs led to cabbie app Free Now cancelling its sponsorship of the Tommy Tiernan Show.
The Navan comedian has since apologised publicly to Emer for making the joke. Despite this, Emer has become the subject of targeted racist comments online.
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"I've been threatened, my family's been threatened, my husband's received emails and messages. It's incredible the extent the people are going to," Emer detailed.
Speaking on The Hard Shoulder on Newstalk, Emer said: "Unfortunately, the rhetoric has changed from a personal attack on me to an attack on our entire community."
She explained that the comments are targeting ethnic minorities both black and brown, and that many of the comments said to "go back to Africa."
"I am a very proud black and Irish woman. I represented my country in basketball since the age of 12. I have so much love for our country, our language, our heritage here.
"For people in ethnic minority groups, this happens to us on a daily basis," she told Newstalk presenter Kieran Cuddihy live on air.
Emer stressed that Irish people are a country known for historical worldwide migration.
"Yet some still have the audacity to say 'out out migrants, stealing our jobs, our homes, house the Irish', the irony is striking," she added.
Emer subsequently took to Twitter to share a series of screenshots of some of the messages and comments she's received in the wake of the joke controversy.
Alongside the images, she said: "Please do not say you are shocked when you hear about racism EVER again!! There is nothing to be shocked about. It is on our doorstep, it is coming from our friends, family, neighbours. It is in broad daylight. Real accounts, real people with no hesitancy to share their hate."
Wicklow resident Emer stated that despite the racist vitriol, it is the kind message of support that is keeping her going, in what she described as a difficult three weeks for her family.
"Honestly it's the people of Ireland and messages that I receive - calls, voice notes - all that kind of stuff.
"Stuff on my social media of 'Thank you Emer for standing up, for fighting, for using your voice for people that can't'," she stated.
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