RTÉ’s Liveline descends into on-air row as man accuses fellow caller of ‘womansplaining’

RTÉ Radio’s Liveline programme descended into an on-air row on Thursday as a man accused a fellow caller of “womansplaining”.

The discussion centred around an incident in Minneapolis, USA, in which a woman was shot dead by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

Videos of Renee Nicole Good (37) attempting to drive away before being shot by an officer have widely circulated on social media. 

Minneapolis resident Lynette Reini-Grandell, who was nearby when the incident occurred, was invited on Liveline to discuss what she witnessed.

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She described herself as an “observer” of ICE’s activities in the area and had walked over to the scene when she heard they were in the neighbourhood.

She described her and other onlookers’ horror at hearing the shots go off. She did not see the incident take place but outlined what she has seen in videos circulated online.

There were a number of other callers on the show, including a man named Eoin, who provided a different perspective on the incident.

He said that while he regarded ICE’s behaviour as “outrageous”, he argued that US President Donald Trump was elected on an anti-immigration platform.

He went on to claim that the victim, Ms Good, was not an innocent bystander but was interfering with law enforcement.

When Ms Reini-Grandell interrupted to argue against what the man was saying, the man responded by accusing her of “womansplaining”.

When host Kieran Cuddihy asked the man what he meant by this remark, he responded by saying that Mr Cuddihy knew exactly what he meant.

“You're one of the most woke presenters on Irish media, you know exactly what it is”, he said.

When the man protested being interrupted, Mr Cuddihy replied: “You want a platform to speak uninterrupted and nobody to challenge your views, which isn’t what you’re going to get on Liveline, regardless of what your views are.”

The man went on to say that he would explain what ‘womansplaining’ was if Mr Cuddihy stopped “those progressives” from interrupting him.

He continued: “That woman interrupted me within 20 seconds of me opening my mouth. “You’ve had five woke callers on in the first half an hour.”

The man accused RTÉ of having an “anti-Republican rhetoric” which has existed for over 40 years.

He called for balance in Irish media and referenced the number of spoiled votes in the recent presidential election, saying people were “fed up of RTÉ not challenging progressives”.

Mr Cuddihy responded by pointing out that RTÉ had allowed him to come on air to express his views.

The man concluded by saying that ‘womansplaining’ was “the opposite of mansplaining”.

“Mansplaining has been spewed out by progressives for at least 20 years, where a guy like myself tries to give the anti-consensus view is accused of mansplaining,” he stated.

Ms Reini-Grandell responded by saying the man was “all over the place”.

Things later got heated between her and Mr Cuddihy, after the host challenged her on whether the victim hit the ICE agent in question with her car.

US President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that “the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting”.

He called her a “professional agitator” who “violently, willfully, and viciously” ran over an ICE officer.

However, the Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, said the agent who shot Ms Good had acted recklessly.

"Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly: that is b*llsh**. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”

Ms Good reportedly lived just a few blocks from where she was killed, having recently moved from Kansas City.

A fundraiser for her family, which was set up with a target of $50,000, raised more than $500,000 in 15 hours.