ENGLISH BROADCASTER PIERS Morgan has said he’s “excited” to see what Ryan Tubridy does next in his career after meeting the former RTÉ presenter in London.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Morgan described Tubridy as “Ireland’s biggest TV star” and added that “RTÉ’s loss will definitely be someone else’s gain”.
The sacked presenter club! Great to see Ireland’s biggest TV star Ryan Tubridy in London today, and excited to see what he does next. RTE’s loss will definitely be someone else’s gain… pic.twitter.com/wtWW1FlwDu
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 5, 2023
As well as meeting up with Morgan, Tubridy has been documenting his visits to famous bookshops in London.
He posted a video on Instagram highlighting his excitement at visiting Daunt Books, which he labels the “most beautiful bookshop in London”.
Tubridy has also taken to Instagram to share book recommendations with his followers and said his first such video is the “first in a series of book recommendations”.
“Lots more to come but try and support your local independent bookshop and never forget that library up the road,” read Tubridy’s caption on the book recommendation post on Instagram.
Tubridy’s love of books came up in the course of one of his first appearances before an Oireachtas Committee regarding controversy over his pay at RTÉ.
When Fianna Fáil’s Cormac Devlin noted that there are “kids who are wondering why the Toyman is in the news so much”, Tubridy replied that his “relationship with the children of Ireland is so important to me”.
“I know that sounds grandiose,” said Tubridy, “but I want them to be happy and hopeful and proud to be Irish and read lots of books and just be wonderful young people.”
Last month, Tubridy hinted at a “new beginning” after being informed that he would not be returning to host his radio show with RTÉ.
In a cryptic Instagram post on 23 August, Tubridy shared a video of a seaside, accompanied by Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Don’t Stop’.
That Instagram post followed a statement from RTÉ director General Kevin Bakhurst, where Bakhurst said trust had “broken down” during the course of negotiations with Tubridy.
Tubridy was the highest earner at the national broadcaster and was taken off-air after a scandal emerged that RTÉ had understated his earnings by €120,000 between 2017-2019.
According to revised figures from RTÉ, Tubridy earned as much as €545,000 in 2019.
Talks between Tubridy and RTÉ were thrown into crisis after Tubridy released a statement which appeared to question RTE’s decision to restate his earnings for 2020-2021.
Bakhurst said the plan had been to “get him back on 4 September on to his show on Radio One”.
A Tubridy podcast was also part of the deal.
However, Bakhurst said he was “particularly disappointed” with Tubridy’s statement.
Speaking last month to RTÉ’s Nine O’Clock News, Bakhurst said: “I just think for the sake of rebuilding trust, which is my focus with the organisation, we can’t afford to be questioning the facts that are out there.”
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