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28th May 2018

British journalist apologises for ‘moronic reference to Gaelic’ following referendum tweet

Paul Moore

The original message provoked some backlash.

Journalist and broadcaster Rachel Johnson has apologised for a tweet that she sent regrading the coverage of the recent referendum on the Eighth Amendment.

On Saturday evening, Johnson sent a tweet – which has since been deleted – that said: “Huge praise to Beth Rigby and Kay Burley of Sky News who produced world class award winning reporting every step of the way of this powerful and moving and divisive story – and also helped comprehension (in mainland UK) by speaking in clear English not Gaelic throughout.”

The initial message caused some backlash and Johnson – the sister of of Boris Johnson, the UK’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs – has clarified her remark.

“I made a moronic reference to “Gaelic” in my tweet about TV coverage of the Irish abortion referendum yesterday and Twitter has rightly pointed out in how many ways I fecked up in using that word. Sorry,” she said.

With regards to the ‘mainland’ remark in the initial tweet, Johnson went on to state that her son studied at Trinity College – implying that she clearly know that the Republic of Ireland isn’t a part of the UK.

After being questioned about her use of the word ‘mainland,’ she also apologised for “all of” her original message – apart from “how brilliant the Sky News team was.”

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