Ryan Tubridy has revealed he doesn’t comment on age anymore, following the recent drama with Derry Girls star Jamie-Lee O’Donnell.
The Irish presenter was interviewing Sky News presenter Kay Burley on Friday night’s episode of The Late Late Show .
Kay is celebrating more than one million minutes of presenting live TV, and joked that Ryan should have told her she looks too young to have been in the business for over 40 years.
She said: “I love my job, I don’t get up thinking ‘oh my goodness I’ve got to do three hours of live telly’, I just think I’m so incredibly privileged, it is a long time – this is where you say I don’t look that old.”
Ryan laughed and replied: “Oh no, I actually don’t comment on age anymore. Probably a wise thing.”
It comes just weeks after Ryan came under fire for asking Jamie-Lee to share her age on the show.
The broadcaster said: “This might be a rude question, you don’t have to answer. But can I ask you how old you are?”
The actress, who plays Michelle Mallon in the Channel 4 sitcom, replied: “I’m 117. I’m very, very wise.”
After Ryan said, “Would you consider telling me what age you are?” Jamie-Lee said: “This is the thing about it that gets on my nerves a wee bit, no disrespect…”
Ryan interjected, “Oh no, that’s okay, I’ll walk away from it if you’d like me to.”
Jamie-Lee then explained, “Do you know what it is, it’s always quite misogynistic even it’s unintentionally misogynistic because men don’t get the same scrutiny in their career.
Defending himself, Ryan insisted: “I would definitely have asked the male actor the same question because he’s playing a teenager too.”
Jamie-Lee then joked: “You’re saying that now, there’s nobody here. I’ll have to take your word for it!”
Explaining why he asked the question, the Late Late Show host added: “I would say that you’ve got these great characters playing teenagers.”
“And that’s really what I was getting at, the fact that you’re of a certain age that play teenagers and do it so well.”
“Actually there was a compliment coming there… please don’t misunderstand where I’m coming from, I mean that genuinely.”
Ryan added: “I’m done with that question; I’m going to move on. I can read a mood when I see it.”
After her interview aired on RTÉ One, viewers took to Twitter to praise Jamie-Lee for the way she reacted to the question.
