RTÉ broadcaster Gerry Ryan caused undue offence when he referred to Jesus as a “Palestinian terrorist” in an "unwarranted and unjustified" remark on his radio programme, the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) has ruled.Despite an attempt by RTÉ to argue "this is precisely what the Roman authorities would have thought when they condemned Jesus to death", the commission criticises Ryan for "belittling" the complainant, Kevin Conry, on air.
His comments in this regard related to a previous complaint Mr Conry had made about Ryan's use of the phrase, but which was rejected by the BCC because the term was “used in a serious manner to generate debate as part of a live discussion”.
This was not the case on this occasion.
The incident, which took place during the Gerry Ryan Show on RTÉ 2FM on June 15th, is one of three separate complaints upheld against RTÉ by the BCC.
During the show, Mr Ryan suggested that he might like to go to the Shelbourne Hotel with Jesus Christ as his guest.
He then went into a make-believe voice in which he arrived at the Shelbourne Hotel to be told that there wasn’t a table free and he had no reservation.
Then he said that his guest was Jesus Christ, to which he thought of a reply: “No, he’s a Palestinian terrorist”.
Mr Conry said that, as a Catholic, he found the use of this term “unnecessary, inaccurate and grossly offensive”.
If a similar derogatory term was used to describe a figure head of any other religion, it would surely be deemed unacceptable, he said.
In their response, RTÉ had argued Ryan, was "having some harmless fun and there was no intended disrespect".
It also refuted Mr Conry's claim Ryan had belittled his right to complain.
"The reference to Jesus as a 'Palestinian terrorist' is not inappropriate…A colonial power, when faced by a native challenging the authority of the state, is highly likely to regard that person as a terrorist," RTÉ argued.
But the BCC said the remark was "unwarranted and unjustified in the context of the discussion in the programme".
"The context and manner was such that it could be assumed that the presenter said it just to be controversial, to shock," it said in its ruling.
It was also noted that the language used in the references to Our Lord and in the subsequent piece about a “complainant” was strong and pointed, and somewhat calculated to offend.
"The presenter then proceeded to belittle the complainant. The language used was quite strong and included in a mocking voice: 'I've nothing else going on in my life but I've a biro and a child's copybook" . . . "and I'll take my biro and my scrawly serial killer writing . . .'"
Overall, it found the "language and comments were not consistent with the broadcaster's obligation to take measures to prevent undue offence in the treatment of religious view or beliefs".
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