RTE Late Show viewers were left with eyebrows raised after "shade" was thrown during Friday evening's episode. The moment of "burn" by host Patrick Kielty happened in the opening minutes of the Valentine's Day special.
Audiences were stunned at some apparent "shade" directed at 2000's singer Samantha Mumba by the Co Down host. Norwegian singer EMMY was selected to represent Ireland in this year's Eurovision with her song Laika Party, with fellow contestant Samantha Mumba missing out. However, Samantha took to Instagram on the Sunday night after the show to not only thank those who supported her bid for Eurovision, but also hit back at the panel, Dublin Live reports.
In her post, she said that the panel were "unnecessarily rude and vile to all the finalists". "Special mention to the "panel" (aside from Bambie who I stan) who not only didn't have the credentials, experience or professionalism required," the My Way singer added.
"Would have said this in person but they all left the green room before I had the opportunity to unsurprisingly. My parting gift them is a bag of [aubergine emoji] to slowly choke on."
Her post resulted in a response from Donal Skehan, who clarified his experience in the music industry and deemed Samantha "unprofessional". To insult the credentials of myself and my fellow panelists, Laura Fox and Arthur Gourounlian is completely unprofessional. Each of us was chosen for our experience, insights, and passion for Eurovision.
"Everyone on that panel took their role seriously and approached the night with thoughtfulness, integrity, and respect for the artists," he wrote.
Host Patrick couldn't but poke fun at the fall out as he opened tonight's show chatting about Valentine's Day, reading out some joke cards. As he opened one card, he said: "Oh this is a bit weird. 'I just wanted to say you're vile, rude, disappointing and I hope you choke on a bag of...'"
He then turned the card around to show a big aubergine emoji sticker, referencing Samantha's Instagram post. People took to social media to comment on the moment. One person wrote: "Oh the shade at Samantha Mumba!!!" Another chimed in: "Oh that burn towards Samantha Mumba!"
Friday's show saw American actress and Mad Men star Christina Hendricks and Irish actor and comedian Chris O'Dowd sit down with Patrick to chat about their newTV series Small Town, Big Story set-in rural Ireland. During the chat, Chris talked about filming in Ireland again and Christina filled the audience in about her time on set.
Award-winning actor, comedian and writer Steve Coogan joined Patrick to talk about appearing in the stage version of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin. He also talked about his iconic character Alan Partridge and how it felt to finally get his Irish passport. Canadian comedian, writer, presenter and actor Katherine Ryan were also in studio.
Katherine has carved out a hugely successful career on this side of the pond and joined Patrick to tell him about her Cork roots and her upcoming Irish gigs. For the night that's in it, she also chatted about her own love story and how she ended up marrying her high school sweetheart over twenty years after they first met. She wasn't Out of Reach on Friday as singer-songwriter Gabrielle also joined Patrick ahead of her gig in the 3Arena.
The 90s icon chatted about her meteoric rise to fame, chart success and what's next for her. She also performed two of her smash hits, Dreams and Rise.
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