The Late Late Show was the most complained about TV or radio programme of the last three years, it has been revealed.
However, not a single one of the 30 formal grievances made against the Ryan Tubridy-presented chat show between 2017 and 2019 was upheld.
Figures obtained under FOI reveal how there have been 253 official complaints made to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland about TV and radio shows over the past three years.
Of those, 180 related to RTE’s TV and radio stations, of which 168 have been closed with the remainder still “ongoing”. From the cases involving the national broadcaster, just one complaint was upheld and three were partially upheld.
An RTE spokesman said: “From the balance of 162 complaints, 12 were resolved and did not proceed to the BAI, while the remaining 150 were rejected.
“None of the complaints made against The Late Late Show over the two-year period were upheld. This in our view upholds the consistently high standards set by the programme.” Almost half of the complaints registered about the Late Late Show related to a single programme from January 2017.
It featured a controversial appearance by Blindboy from the Rubberbandits in which he made a joke comparing communion wafer to “haunted bread”.
That episode of the show attracted 14 complaints, of which two were resolved prior to being considered by the BAI. The remainder were all rejected.
Ten complaints were made about RTE Investigates, of which all but one related to its hard-hitting documentary about the greyhound industry.
The spokesman added: “All complaints against RTE Investigates Running For Their Lives were rejected,”
