PJ Gallagher has refused to be drawn in on Conor McGregor’s cruel jibe about his mental health battle – but instead brushed off the UFC’s early morning rant saying “what a year”.
The funnyman was speaking to RTE Radio 1 host Ray D’Arcy on his show on Monday afternoon about his mental health battle.
At the end of their conversation, D’Arcy brought up the jibe made by McGregor on Twitter at the weekend, but a reluctant PJ refused to comment on the Dublin MMA fighter.
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Instead, he said: “What a year.”
It comes in the wake of McGregor suffering massive backlash after he poked fun at the former Naked Camera star’s battle with his mental health, which led to PJ receiving treatment at St Patrick's University Hospital in December last year.
In the now-deleted tweet, McGregor called PJ a "sad pox of a thing", adding that he was "crying in the paper bout depression".
Gallagher shared a screenshot of the tweet, in which McGregor wrote at 1:32am on December 17: "Sit up right and smile for a change will you, you sad c*nt, hahahaha wife left you an all and your crying in the paper bout depression,
"Posture like a prawn. Sad b*stard. I am Ireland. Don’t forget it. There’s blood on my flag useesoo.”
The Radio Nova DJ replied: "Excuse me! It took years of hard work and awkward walking to get the posture of a prawn. I am delicious!"
Several high profile names have come out to support PJ – including Maia Dunphy who said that although she is pals with one of McGregor’s sisters, she was “disappointed” over McGregor’s comments.
She tweeted: “People/papers keep asking me for my thoughts on McGregor, maybe because it’s known I’m friends with his sister. I don’t want to get dragged in, but what I will say is when I think what he could stand for, what he could choose to champion, it’s just very, very disappointing.”
Football legend Paul McGrath also told PJ to “take no notice of bullies”, adding: “You’re loved by everyone.”
Yesterday PJ told D’Arcy in detail about the last 12 months receiving treatment for his mental health after he revealed his struggles on the Late Late Show earlier this year.
The Radio Nova presenter also spoke about losing his beloved mother, Helen, who died on November 5.
Speaking for the first time about the death of his mother, he said: “It was a bit sudden. I know she was sick for a while, she had cancer, but I suppose I never really took in how sick she was. Maybe there was a bit of denial going on there.
“I feel bad for her because she made it through the pandemic and then she got sick one day. Her lung capacity just went down, called the ambulance and they took her in.
“She came home the next day and she seemed to be ok, and she kept saying ‘I’m so glad they found nothing wrong with my heart, I’m glad my heart is okay’.
“Then her lungs started to fail the next day, into hospital again. She woke up, had her breakfast and had a heart attack and died.”
PJ said his sister was just minutes away from visiting their mother and had just parked up in the hospital car park.
“I was with my partner in a car coming back from a dog walk with Kellie Harrington.
“I got the news of my ma in the car, and I rang my sister then.
“I said have you heard, and she said no and I said she passed away ten minutes ago and my sister was in an awful state. She was in the car park of the hospital on the way in.
“We both just missed her.”
He said his mother was “delighted” with his Late Late Show appearance where he opened up about his mental health battles and was always a supporter of people being direct.
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