THIS IS not okay.
US comedian Josh Pray won the hearts of the nation with his astounded, hyperactive reviews of Irish sports such as Hurling, Gaelic football and Camogie.
In fact he became so popular he was invited by Tourism Ireland and the GAA to attend the All-Ireland football final between Kerry and Dublin on September 1st, and while on our island he posted about the match, filmed himself pouring and trying Guinness for the first time and spoke about how much he loved Ireland.
But it seems not everyone saw the good in somebody who isn’t from Ireland enjoying our national sport.
Pray took to Facebook yesterday, September 10th, to announce he would no longer be posting about Ireland due to certain Irish people thinking that only “Irish-bred folks” should have the right to speak on Irish sports.
The post in full reads:
“Due to the negative nature of some messages
That I’ve gotten from some Ireland based individuals whom think I should let Irish bred folks commentate Irish sports, I will refrain from posting about the Irish culture for a few weeks.”
Due to the negative nature of some messages
That I’ve gotten from some Ireland based individuals whom think I should let...Posted by Josh Pray on Tuesday, September 10, 2019
He signed off the post with the inherently Irish colloquial phrase “There you go lads, have at it”.
The post received almost 5,000 comments, mostly from Irish people who denounced the “tools” and “arseholes” who had sent the honorary Irishman abuse, with some blaming jealousy and begrudgery for the negative comments.
Irish people on Twitter were also quick to denounce the disgusting actions of those who had sent Pray abuse for his enthusiasm for Ireland.
I'm horrified that this man, who touched so many people with his infectious enthusiasm about GAA sports, has been made to feel that he had to write this post.
It's not okay. pic.twitter.com/Cb3WnxPHfr— The Irish For 📚 (@theirishfor) September 10, 2019
An overwhelming majority of people enjoyed Josh Pray's OTT reactions to all things Irish. It's a massive shame that some people had to ruin it, for him and for everyone else.
We hope it doesn't change his view on Ireland as being an open and welcoming place-- some people are just gobshites.
