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# Speaking out
'Be the one to step in. It changed my life': James Kavanagh describes school bullying on Late Late
James Kavanagh was on the show with his brother John, who coaches Conor McGregor.
ON RTÉ’s THE Late Late Show last night, Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh appeared with his brother, James, who spoke very openly about being bullied in school for being gay.
James Kavanagh, who has tens of thousands of followers on Snapchat, described frequent instances of the “f-word being thrown around, getting pushed in the back [and] people would just shout gay at [him]” when he around the age of 13.
He said: “I wasn’t out yet… but it was very obvious I was gay. I wasn’t ready to come out.
I always associated being gay with this negative thing. I was getting badly bullied in school. I’d go home and I’d have zero friends.
Ryan Tubridy later said that bullying was a disease, and mentioned a “survey” that was passed around class about Kavanagh.
The survey said “How gay is James” with options of “very gay”, “just a little bit gay” and “not gay”.
“I think it’s very interesting you kept that,” Tubridy said.
James replied: “I talk about it. It looks maybe funny now. I was 13 and not comfortable in my own skin. That particular guy bullied me a lot.
With that survey there was a guy who stopped them passing on. That guy who stopped it opened up a new door in my life. There’s someone who’s nice… that’s what I’d say to people in schools. Be the one to step in. It changed my life.
He also later jokingly said how the family refer to him as “the blunder”, much to his John and his mother’s embarrassment, before telling the story of how we was conceived.
“My conception obviously involves my parents, it involves Joe Duffy, it involves Tina Turner and Edward Scissorhands,” he said.
John added jokingly: “It explains a lot.”
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