Former GAA footballer Joe Brolly has denied a lewd gesture he made during a podcast was aimed at "presidential candidates" after Heather Humphreys described it as "very misogynistic".
Mr Brolly's remark comes after a video of the pundit’s podcast circulated online showing him answering media questions when he mimicked the sexual act.
The short clip, which originated from his 'Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning' podcast, shows a moment in which the two hosts compare presidential campaigning to "a nasty Rose of Tralee".
The exchange on the podcast, occurring around 5 minutes in, begins with Mr Brolly discussing Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin.
He subsequently made reference to a "her" before impersonating a presidential candidate responding to a media query as he made the lewd gesture.
On her presidential campaign trail in Wexford today, Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys criticised Mr Brolly’s behaviour.
She described it as "targeted at women", adding that she would stand up for the women of Ireland.
In a statement on social media platform X, Mr Brolly said: "The gesture - as is clear from the audio - had nothing whatsoever to do with the presidential candidates."
He added that he "was making fun of the stock questions and responses that happen in a presidential campaign", describing it as "childish, crude and inappropriate".
But in an earlier post on the same platform, Mr Brolly claimed the gesture was made in the context of a discussion about Fianna Fáil’s presidential candidate Jim Gavin, who withdrew from the campaign earlier this week.
"Just to be clear, on the podcast I was talking about Jim Gavin being unsuited to the insubstantial nature of the presidential campaign," he said.
"It was nothing to do with Heather," he added.
Mr Brolly said the "action was in poor taste and should never have happened".
