Tara Lynne O'Neil defends co-star Jamie-Lee O’Donnell
Derry Girls star Tara Lynne O'Neil has defended her co-star Jamie-Lee O'Donnell following that controversial Late Late Show interview.
During their chat, Ryan Tubridy changed the subject when Jamie-Lee called his question about her age, "quite misogynistic."
And Tara, who plays Ma Mary Quinn, believes he should have let her answer in full.
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What happened?
In case you missed it, Jamie-Lee appeared on The Late Late Show with Ryan last week following the Derry Girls season premiere.
During their chat, Ryan asked, "This might be a rude question, you don’t have to answer. But can I ask you how old you are?"
She joked, "I’m 117. I’m very, very wise."
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Ryan went on, "Would you consider telling me what age you are?"
"This is the thing about it that gets on my nerves a wee bit, no disrespect…" Jamie-Lee began her response.
Ryan interjected, "Oh no, that’s okay, I’ll walk away from it if you’d like me to."
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Jamie-Lee explained, "Do you know what it is, it’s always quite misogynistic even if it’s unintentionally misogynistic because men don’t get the same scrutiny in their career."
"I would definitely have asked the male actor the same question because he’s playing a teenager too," Ryan defended.
Watch the moment in full here:
‘Well, that was awkward’ — Derry Girls star Jamie Lee O'Donnell accuses Ryan Tubridy of ‘misogynistic’ question on The Late Late Show last night. #LateLateShow@JamieLeeOD pic.twitter.com/DJDJeWuNaQ
— Dublin News Live (@DublinNewsLive) April 16, 2022
Tara Lynne shares her thoughts
Jamie-Lee's co-star Tara Lynne weighed in on the incident during an appearance on Ireland AM this week.
As quoted by The Sun, she said, "I think if you're going to start a question with, 'this may be rude, you don't have to answer it,' I think maybe that's not a good question to ask."
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She added, "Also if you're going to say, 'You don't have to answer it,' let somebody answer. I think that was Ryan's problem."
"I think Jamie Lee's a very smart, clever, forward-thinking young woman and I think if he had let her answer the question, it would've been much clearer to what she meant."
"Obviously I'm the Ma, no one asks me my age but the girls do get asked it quite a lot and I think if he'd just let her finish, he would've left it not in a mood but on a funny anecdote as she said she was about to give."
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Tara Lynne went on, "I think Jamie Lee is, and as you see in the show, she's hilariously funny and she was going to find a way, I'm sure, to explain where she was coming from."
"But obviously Ryan felt uncomfortable and moved it on and that's understandable too."
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She concluded, "But I think if you start a question with, 'this may be rude,' I think don't ask it."
