In a statement, the broadcaster acknowledged that some viewers were offended by the sketch and said that around 600 complaints have been received so far.
"The formal complaints received by RTÉ are being entered into our complaints system and will be responded to in accordance with the relevant statutory process." The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland called on RTÉ to remove what he described as the "deeply offensive and blasphemous clip".
Disgusting, is this rubbish what I pay my TV licence for?
I watched the BBC I wouldn’t put myself or my family through it ......
An absolute disgrace. We now await the same treatment and disrespect of other religions. Will that happen. They wouldn’t dare because we all know what would happen. What have the politicians to say. The silence is deafening
When rape is considered “funny” material it’s time to take stock.
It's still on rte player so rte still think its ok to joke about rape? Like maybe some people might not be offended? Fools were so eager to insult Christians they forgot that rape isn't funny. DefundRTE
This is an appeal to the normal people who must still exist within RTE. Will somebody please start leaking internals on how, why and by whom crap like this gets taxpayer funds. If not, you will be out of a job soon.
Hollow. There is NO excuse for the broadcast in the first instance
Shut it down. DefundRTE
Criticized by more than the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland Many of its TV licence payers were feeling very disrespected too. Time to switch them off
If the piece was about a different religion there would be far more speaking out here. We should respect all and not just take an easy pop at Catholic beliefs just cause it’s something we know and feel comfortable with slagging off. The subject matter too was in v.poor judgment
The whole country is effectively grounded, & in need of distraction & entertainment; so what does the public broadcaster do, feed us a diatribe of mediocrity, crass, woke-nonsense. DefundRTE
Why? Is criticism no longer allowed? Differing viewpoints? Observations?
Whoever thought that sketch was suitable to air needs to go. How is joking about the rape of migrant women funny? Also, offending those of the Christian faith despite RTÉ's commitment to equality. If this was a different faith, there would have been uproar.
You fookers should be brought up on the NEW BLASPHEMY charges that were introduced into this countey to STOP this kind of thing. So we can all do/say whatever we like IF we only apologise for it afterwards? Nice 1 LeoVaradkar MichealMartinTD I can do as I like, just like rte
A rotten end to a truly rotten year.
Not good enough. I’m not a regular mass goer, but how dare the national broadcaster mock my religion with such evil intent. Shame.
Apology not enough. Remove the item from rte player.
wellboy Rte paedo scumbags ****DO NOT PAY RTE LIES LICENCE FEE**** Anti IRISH Anti White Anti Catholic ANTICHRISTS
I'm sure you were all sitting around crying into your soup.
Must not of had enough child porn on it 🙅♂️
However, to prove you are fair & equal in all things, Ireland awaits your next attempt at humour, this time With Muhammad & his wife of 9 years old. (can a 9 year old give consent? If not, what did Muhammad do?) Over to you rte Bukhari 5.58.234
You should apologise for the lie. Luke 1:38 - Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say' You should be ashamed of yourself for even daring to use rape as humour, never mind the fact you had to lie to do it.
Apologised but you're not going to remove the material? That's not an apology, that's sticking two fingers up to people.
Lots of apologies coming out of RTE lately.
Rte scum
RTÉ you did it with the kids on the toy show with vaccines. Showing fear down or throats since March. Give it a fking rest
Really poor taste - so disappointing -
It was thoughtless and offensive in my opinion. I enjoy Waterford whispers but this was totally inappropriate on this occasion. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
Catholicism isn't the only denomination of Christianity.
Does rte not realise that there is catholic Polish, Filipinos etc in Ireland. I thought rte said diversity was our strength not when it comes to mocking the faith.
I think if everyone stopped watching RTE we could have a two fold effect.. RTE would be defunded and plandemic would disappear too🙏
Ah did someone take the piss out of an invisible space wizard 🙄
fakenewsRTE issues a fake apology.
rte no longer serves the people we pay our taxes to keep you in jobs and you go posting rap this is crap this is nothing but a hate crime on christians
Mocking religion is one thing. Making a laugh of rape is quite another.
They should apologize for the whole boring show
Some apology when the offensive rape material remains on rte player.
Those who authorized it and those involved with this “project” should be fired!
Apology not accepted. I'm not a Catholic, but all the same. You are cowards and middlemen, priests & midwits for globalist capital, and your days are numbered as a successful body.
Imagine the outcry if the piece was based on Allah
You could refund people their license would be nice this is your second apology in the last few months clearly you really don’t care this is just a half hearted apology
Waterford whispers! Lol now it makes sense haha Happy New Year
I really wish you didn’t apologise, it was a comedy show.
Would love to see THE broadcast a similar joke involving Muslims. They would be shitting themselves.
Take it down, a warning is just another insult (not good enough).
DefundRTE
Scandalous and insulting, RTÉ now murking about in the gutter. We weren’t watching RTÉ very much in the last year or two but certainly won’t be watching it in the future whilst this offensive material stays up on the player.
Ah the church still calls the shots and define media and humor. An evening of Dave Allen and Father Ted on mainland TV will be had ...
It was a terrible programme but we nearly expect to see this kind thing on RTÉ. It's an easy target to insult Christians who won't react like others. Every day, on radio or TV we hear this stuff. Bad from national broadcaster!
If they insulted any other religion they'd lose their broadcasting licence. But this is a non judgemental religion, society and country. In Ireland we can take a joke. We can allow people to make mistakes. I'm sure I'm right
Ireland right now is in a dark place joy for abortion,and smiling at the rape of OUR LADY
That’s a bridge to far even for the RTÉ.
It hasn’t gone away you know 👿
And so they should, the New Years show was horrific to say the least, it was so boring and lethargic, I watched it with my parents, niece and nephew and for RTE to think the section on Waterford Whispers section was comedy it goes to show what horrible vermin work there.
Not offended by paedophilia though?
Indeed.
Having a bad week RTE 😂😂😂 Its going to be a bad year for you and the Scummedia as well..
Religion is for old farts and corruption is rampant within the Catholic Church. The amount of paedophilia and coverups is sickening. Anyone who believes religion over science is today’s world is simply an idiot. God, Jesus and the whole fairytale is bullshit.
Refuse to pay the TV license
That was not an apology it was adding insult to injury. Legal department obviously told to do the usual 'anyone who may have been offended 'claptrap. What would happen if every Christian and every rape victim in the country refused to pay a licence fee this year?
Nice mock apology there. Comedy and satire? That's all it was? Great! Do Muhammad next! Go ahead!
Shocking & an all time low from RTÉ the majority of tv licence payers are Catholic’s/Christians would find sketch unacceptable & intolerable.
It was done in very, very poor taste. Satire is witty and subtle. This sketch was neither, rape jokes are never funny.
Just not good enough. Imagine if it were another religion.
I'm offended by the angelus. I want an apology rte.
I flicked over to this show on 3 occasions and it was terrible tv !! Would have been better off showing an episode of Tom & Jerry ... whatawasteofmoney
utterly meaningless apology from RTE. The mask is well and truly off now regarding your hatred of people of faith.
Can I denounce RTE for subjecting me to The Angelus twice a day?
RTÉ cowards focused on soft target as usual, they wouldn’t dare satire Islam & if they did the usual suspects would shout racist. DefundRTE
Supposedly the prophet Mohammed was a pea do file
There is a systemic Anti Catholic bias in RTE there has be numerous incidents of this over the years, surely it’s time for heads to roll over this bigotry!? If it were any other section of society the left wing hypocritical politicians would be outside it’s headquarters protestin
An Oireachtas committee needs to urgently convene to consider the systemic bias that is now obvious in RTE. Nearly all the libel judgments against you have been for baseless attacks on Catholics and conservatives, at great financial cost to the licence-payers. End the TV tax.
I'm atheist and this was a disgrace.
Funnily enough the whole sketch is wrong. Mary did in fact give informed consent in the bible. She was visited, informed of God's future plan, she questioned it and then gave her consent. Probably the earliest record of informed consent actually
This 'apology' is just mendacity; the segment is still on their website. Why are people in Ireland being forced to pay 160 euro p.a. so that RTE can insult them & denigrate their beliefs? Move to a subscription basis rte & then you'll be free to sneer at whomever you choose.
I have no connection with the RC church but overall I thought the gig was in poor taste for an evening that was meant (or should be) for everyone. RTE got it wrong. Anyway the whole segment was positively unfunny, but that's another matter.
I have yet to see an apology for Fair City and Ryan Tubridy. Whenever you are ready....
Defund RTE. Time to come back to the real world. Stop paying the license fee to this government mouthpiece.
We're coming for you and everything you enjoy.
Oh no you didn't.
And it presented by a boy on a good Rte pension, doing nixers
rte are infested with Satan worshipers. I ask the church for a mass exorcism of RTÉ now.
DefundRTE scum
Are they going to return our tv license money?
Good
When is the Islamic version due? I can't wait to watch them burn ye out of it.
So the RTE head honchos decide to not remove the clip that insults Catholics,so I suggest Catholics boycott RTE and refuse to pay the licence, so they can continue to insult us.
There is no longer a law against blasphemy. If Christians are offended, shouldn't they forgive them?
obvious now that the laws around blasphemy was that the liblobs arent mature enough to avoid blasphemy.
The thing about this is that it wasn’t even funny...who actually comes up with such rubbish?
If RTE portrayed a black man or a gay man as a rapist, it would be deemed offensive also. The sketch should never have been broadcast.
They broke their arse
Cowards.
Eamon Martin has some nerve considering that his employer have important documents, knowledge of child abusers amongst their colleagues and refuse to hand it over to the authorities! In fact there is still compensation for historic abuse that is still not paid!
I would never call myself Religious but this sketch was extremely disrespectful to Christians especially at this time of the year and belittles the act of rape !
Apoligy is not enough it should be removed foe viewing on player, utube and all social media. If the apology was sincere this would follow.
Fairly crappy insincere apology after making a rape joke. 'RTÉ recognises that matters which can cause offence naturally differ from person to person, within comedy and satire in particular. '
Don’t apologise. Those believers in Skyfriends have to toughen up🤡🤡
Rte apologises to that cult again. Disgraceful
No spine
Some on here sneering say why apologise,I wouldn't b a church goer by any stretch but I do believe in god,so I find it insulting to him and people who suffered sexual abuse.
Scandal after scandal with RTE and as always there is never a 'spokesperson' available to answer questions. Don't come out crying when people won't pay the license fee. The broadcaster needs serious reform if it is to survive.
wellboy ❄❄❄❄❄ everywhere 🙄
Is it racist to call a white person white?
❄️❄️❄️
Stop apologizing to those international rapists and thieves. By throwing off the shackles of the Catholic Church, Ireland can truly free herself. For now, you’re still her slave.
RTE should apologise for rubbish countdown show! Worst piece of tv of 2020, that's saying something when we've had findingjoy
Disappointed in you for apology
An “apology” is all it takes? RTÉ may well have inadvertently struck a blow against so-called “Hate Speech Laws” by broadcasting New Year’s Eve’s drivel. With such a clear precedent being set, how could anyone else be prosecuted under such ridiculous laws?
STOP PAYING YOUR TV LICENCE.
'We are 'apologising' for this so much we're going to continue to broadcast it on RTE Player to the whole world.' = NOT an apology
I’m all for having a laugh but this really was in poor taste. Try substituting Islam in here and see the uproar then ....
In the New Testament doesn't it say God got a 12 or 14yr old Mary pregnant? Just saying!
Unfortunately the only joke RTE produces every now and then is an attempt at comedy.
It's not wrong though. It makes people uncomfortable because something at the heart of the whole fantasy is so super rapey.
Would they do a similar skit on Islam ?
RTÉ apologises for satire about an imaginary person! Hilarious! They should apologise for the real rubbish like Mrs Brown's Boys and Gogglebox Ireland!
Are you also going to apologise for the horrendous reporting you’ve done on the “pandemic”, and also your support on a man (CMOIreland / HSELive ) who has blood 🩸 on his hands for the women who have been left to perish under the cervical health scandal
Booooo
I'm agnostic but it was in bad taste, insulting to Catholics and not funny to boot. If it wasn't so unfashionable to be Catholic at the moment there would have been a lot more commentary.
Good ol' Archbishop Martin, getting more offended by satire than by actual crimes committed by his own organisation. At least he got a fake apology and the clip isnt being taken down. Thats something at least.
No need to apologise for anything
Rte, just ask for forgiveness. The catholic church has to forgive, or is it do as I say, not as I do. And before the trolls pop on, I'm a catholic. And I have forgiven Rte for the joke.
Not enough. Heads should roll over this. Huge error of judgement. If that happened in the private sector, people would be fired - 100%
Well guess who wont be getting money for the tv licence.....
Too Late,i am just going sit back and watch your DOWNFALL,Defund RTE
Remove the clip. Stop pandering to the minority.
How man apologies do the church owe us at this stage?
Who's next for you to apologise to?
GOOD
The biggest 'offense' of that skit wasn't what it said. Its biggest crime was simply being incredibly unfunny.
Dont worry RTE, nobody will cut your heads off 😜🤡🤡
You'd have though he'd have just turned the other cheek...
Cowards.
Start a protest don't pay the licence see then can they pay big wages
This is just the start of ur apology’s. Followed by the dismantlement of ur corporation
Rich coming from a paedophile organization
Pretty insulting stuff. Was it done for humour or to provoke outage.
Next up, how about a few words for all the people who committed suicide after 9months of lies and propaganda!
I doubt many were watching but you shouldn't critisise tony holohan, it upsets people
Why are you apologising for blasphemy? We had a referendum to make it legal
It is understood the clip will not be removed from the RTÉ Player as requested, but a warning will be attached to the footage to warn viewers that the material may cause offence. Yer a joke
No such thing as ‘blasphemy’.
Chicken shit rte.
Sorry we're not ran by the Catholic church anymore! Why apoligise?
When is the Islam sketch lads?
Don’t pay the license fee.
Don't cave in to the paedophiles.
What exactly did ye apologise for?
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