BROADCASTER GEORGE HOOK was riled last night by the line of questioning he on TV3′s The Late Review, accusing the presenting of asking about topics to provoke a reaction.
He took on issues ranging from the abuse he has received to his views on women.
The interview got heated, and at one stage Hook threatened to walk off stage as Siptu president Jack O’Connor had done on Tonight with Vincent Browne.
However, he stayed until the end, with presenter Colette Fitzpatrick ending the segment with an exhausted “phew”.
Here’s some of the topics he spoke on.
After placing blame on women for making the world “too politically correct”, Hook and Fitzpatrick swung into a debate on gender equality.
Hook dug his boots in, saying women get a “fair shot”.
GH: I think the world is a good place for women, I think it’s a very good place for women.
CF: Depends on where you live in the world surely.
GH: No, it’s a very good place for women.
CF: It’s not for little girls in Nigeria, for example.
GH: Yeah but I can’t fix Nigeria.
CF: I know, but you just said the world isn’t a great place for women.
GH: Nigeria isn’t a good place for men, so don’t use Nigeria.
CF: I think in fairness the world is a lot better for women than it was when your mum was growing up, and when my mum was growing up, and there was a work-marriage ban and all that, it doesn’t mean the battle is won. It’s not a battle by the way…
GH: It’s not a battle, that’s the whole point.
Hook went on to stress that the world has never been a better place, asking “What more do you want?”.
He was pressed on controversial comments he made last month after a man convicted of raping his then-girlfriend, Niamh Ní Domhnaill, was allowed to walk free.
Hook asked senator and solicitor Ivana Bacik on his Newstalk show The Right Hook whether there was “implied consent”, as the two were in a relationship.
Ní Domhnaill later said she was “shocked” by the comments, with Hook apologising if he caused her offence.
Speaking last night, Hook said he didn’t regret the comments.
“I didn’t apologise to the Twitterati, I didn’t apologise to all these people, most of whom had never heard the interview. There’s keywords in that, one is hypothetically,” he said.
I was speaking to a professor of law from Trinity College Dublin, it was my job to try and understand why a judge didn’t send – do you want me to finish or do you want to finish? – why a judge refused to send a man to jail for one day for raping a woman in the bed? it was my job to find out why he did, to try to get inside the head of a judge who made that decision.
He added that four senior counsels had told him that it was the only question you can ask in that particular situation as to why he received a suspended sentence. Hook said if he couldn’t ask a question like that, he can’t ask any questions.
Is it my job to tackle the difficult issues, to ask the hard questions, and let it fall when it may.
Hook became his most animated when asked this.
“Everything I say is what I believe,” he stressed.
“I’m not saying it because I think the Mná na hÉireann would like it, or because Fine Gael would like it, or because, you know, Matt Cooper or anybody else. I say it because I believe it.
How many broadcasters do you know today who are tackling the migrant issue head on? It’s not popular. It’s not popular. It’s not popular.
Watch a section of this exchange below:
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