Joe Brolly is never far from controversy, but even he admits he crossed a line with his remarks about Rachel Wyse.
RTE's GAA pundit Joe Brolly loves to court controversy with his opinions when he's on TV, and he extends that on to Twitter, so it's no surprise that he has been very vocal on Sky's plans to cover the Championship this summer.
Brolly took to the social media platform to express his views recently, but it backfired very quickly on the Derry bannister after he described Wyse, who will front Sky's coverage, as a 'Baywatch babe'.
Screengrab via The Score
He followed up to much of the criticism he received by stating what he described as a deliberate policy from Sky of hiring 'beautiful people' to present their Sports programs.
SKY's entrenched beautiful anchor formula is shamelessly sexist, designed for their overwhelmingly male audience. That is the point.
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) May 21, 2014
However, under increasing pressure, Brolly did eventually apologise, sending the following tweet to Wyse, and adding later that his comment was not meant as any "reflection on your abilities as a presenter".
@RACHEL_WYSE Rachel, I apologise for the remark about a "Baywatch babe" . It was not meant to be personal but it was crass & wrong of me.
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) May 21, 2014
For her part, Wyse has kept a dignified silence, saying only that she was "well aware of his remarks over the past few weeks" on Twitter.
Via The Independent and The Score