The 2 Johnnies forced to delete sexist podcast material as RTÉ DJs scramble to save show

The new RTÉ DJs were called out for “virulently sexist” material in a video promoting their 2FM programme, and the future of the new show remains in doubt as RTÉ continues to review the matter.

The video containing several crude references to female genitalia was deleted earlier this week as it promoted their new 2FM programme.

The comedy duo apologised for the “offensive” content, saying it should “never have been published”.

Yet the podcast containing the same sexist material, which the video came from, was still published yesterday.

The presenters also promoted their new RTÉ show in the same podcast. Among the car-sticker slogans read out during the podcast were: “Workin’ the land and droppin’ the hand”; “Tyres are like women, no good unless they are squealing”, and “She’s not a princess, she’s a sl*t”.

There were several other crude references, which the Irish Independent has chosen not to publish.

After the “offensive” material is discussed, The 2 Johnnies, John O’Brien and John McMahon, go on to plug their new show on RTÉ 2FM’s Drive It , which was beginning that day.

“Drive it with The 2 Johnnies. There you go. That’s a live jingle for you, three to six, everyday, Monday to Friday, that’s our show there. It’s going to be madness. It’s going to be different to anything you’ve ever heard because the two of us are f***ing mental,” McMahon says.

When contacted by this newspaper about whether there was any plan to remove the “offensive” material from the podcast, The 2 Johnnies did not respond.

However, an RTÉ spokesperson said: “We understand The 2 Johnnies podcast is being edited.” In the podcast, McMahon begins the conversation saying: “Another running theme, Johnny. This is probably my favourite feature of the podcast.”

The pair are now saying another staff member put the video together and say they did not see it before it was published. O’Brien said the pair’s intention was to condemn the slogans but said they were not “clear enough in our condemnation of them”.

“In the social media clip that went out, the context is taken out. As soon we saw the video, we took it down. We didn’t edit that video ourselves, it was one of our team, which makes it our responsibility and we have to stand over it,” he said on RTÉ’s Liveline .

“And that’s why we’ve apologised for it because without the context that video is offensive. On the podcast we were condemning these stickers. We didn’t condemn them enough, but we did say these are scandalous and these are too far.

“The ‘catch The 2 Johnnies on 2FM’ sticker at the end was an accident. It was nothing to do with 2FM.”