Tommy Tiernan under fire for comments about DUP leader Arlene Foster

Tommy Tiernan has never been one to hold back, even on the radio. During his appearance on Tuesday’s Mark Patterson show on Radio Foyle, he joked that if DUP leader Arlene Foster had any other job, he could see her working on a farm. "If she wasn't in politics I can see her working single-handedly on a tiny little farm in south Fermanagh driving cattle up some country lane," he said. Mocking Foster's voice, he said, "Go on you pups, you fenian ba****ds ye, go up you fenian . . . Friesian Arlene, they are called Friesian, Arlene. I'll call them what I want."
The comments received backlash from the DUP, with MP Gregory Campbell saying that he found Tiernan's comments "excessive." In a statement to the Belfast News Letter, Campbell said, "His humour can be quite lively if it is delivered and taken in the spirit it is intended it to be, but some of that stuff (about Arlene Foster) appears to be, in terms if the language used anyway, almost deliberately provocative to try to engender some sort of outrage. "
The BBC deemed the language used as "clearly inappropriate" and has removed the segment from their catch-up services. Host of the radio show Mark Patterson apologised as well, though he acknowledged that part of Tiernan's comedy is his unpredictability. "Tommy is, I suppose that kind of talent in terms of what he does," Patterson said in a statement.
Back in March, after giving us his take on Trump ("He's good television, but he hasn't revealed himself to be as evil as some of the other people out there at the moment") Tiernan told Hot Press about all about the extreme, though tongue-in-cheek executive orders he would give for Ireland.
"We should get rid of days of the week. I think every day should just be a day! Heroin should be free. I think all junkies should get as much heroin as they want and then be made to live as pets with old people. We should welcome as many refugees as we possibly can – but make them all live in Leitrim. They are the first three executive orders that I’d bring in."
Read the full interview here.