IRISH actor Gabriel Byrne has spoken of “a climate of abject sexism” being rife within RTE during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when he worked with the state broadcaster.
Byrne told presenter Sean O’ Rourke on RTE Radio 1 this morning that the way in which some men acted towards women at the broadcaster during that time was “absolutely ridiculous” and that “nobody questioned” these behaviors at the time.
The former star of The Riordans appeared on the show to discuss his new documentary on legendary Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw but was questioned by O’ Rourke on whether or not he had experienced instances of sexual misconduct through his career.
Byrne said that while most men at the time were “decent and respectful”, for some “it was accepted men behaved that way.”
He recalled stories whereby cases of men being sexually inappropriate towards women were ignored when he was on the cast of hit drama The Riordans.
“People just laughed and said ‘there he is doing those things’,” he said. “It was common knowledge. The idea that you’d go to RTE and complain wasn’t an option.”
Byrne also claimed that one particular person harassed his then-girlfriend numerous times: “One of those guys made her life an absolute misery through his sexual improprieties.
“Another friend of mine who worked on her very first week there – two producers took a bet on who could get her to bed first…nobody thought this was really appalling behavior.”
He went on to point out that some of the men who carried out such behavior are still walking the halls today: “There’s still a few people walking around the place who were regarded as – I don’t know what you would call them – sex pests,” he said.
Byrne was also asked about his experience of working with Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, both of whom have been accused of countless acts of sexual assault.
“They knew Harvey was a sleazebag. He was quite unsavory in his attitude towards women. I never came across anybody who was aware of the violence of his behavior.”
On Spacey, Byrne recalled a time during the filming of the Usual Suspects when the filming was temporarily shut down because of an incident between Kevin Spacey and a man on the set.
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