RTÉ’s Lottie Ryan photoshopped out of NK Management site homepage

Today at 02:30

An image of RTÉ’s Lottie Ryan has been photoshopped from the NK Management homepage showcasing the biggest stars represented by the agent.

Noel Kelly has become embroiled in the RTÉ payments scandal after the public service broadcaster confirmed it paid Ryan Tubridy €345,000 more than was publicly declared.

The main photo on the NK Management website homepage shows a display of the top stars represented by the company.

It includes a photograph of Mr Kelly, as well as Mr Tubridy, RTÉ radio host Claire Byrne, architect Dermot Bannon, influencer and presenter Doireann Garrihy as well as Liveline’s Joe Duffy.

However, radio star Lottie Ryan has now been removed from the group in the photograph in the past week as has Irish garden designer Diarmuid Gavin.

Mr Gavin left the agency a few years ago, he told the Irish Independent.

“Noel remained and remains a very close friend of mine,” he said.

The original line up of stars, including both Ms Ryan and Mr Gavin, is still included in the “NK Brochure” section of the company’s website.

Ms Ryan announced about a week into the scandal that she is no longer represented by Mr Kelly.

“My relationship with NK Management ended a number of weeks ago when we respectfully parted ways,” she wrote on her Instagram. “I will not be making any further comment.”

Ms Ryan herself also became engulfed in the RTÉ scandal after it emerged that she filmed a promotional advert for a car company on the public service broadcaster’s campus, without any permission.

Lottie Ryan stars in Toyota promo in RTE car park

The video, plugging a €50,000 car, appeared the day after the scandal of Mr Tubridy’s payments from a commercial deal with another car maker was revealed.

Ms Ryan was not the only star to depart the agent since the RTÉ controversy began, with Virgin Media presenter Ciara Doherty and Newstalk and Sunday Independent columnist Ciara Kelly also announcing they were stepping away from the agency.

Both presenters said that they wanted to be able to be fully impartial in order to probe the ongoing RTÉ payment scandal.

However, a photograph of Ms Kelly remains on the homepage of NK Management.

Ms Doherty did not feature on the photograph on the homepage at all.

Mr Kelly and Mr Tubridy put the blame solely at RTÉ’s door when they came into the Media and Public Accounts Committees this week. Mr Kelly told politicians the recent controversy has been “hugely damaging” to his business.

“The controversy of the past few weeks has been damaging to RTE. It’s also been hugely damaging to Ryan Tubridy, to myself and to my own business.

“This is not the Ryan Tubridy scandal, this is the RTÉ scandal,” he said.

Mr Tubridy is the most trusted man in Ireland, Mr Kelly said.

He also said that Mr Tubridy has brought in around €100m to RTÉ in a number of years, however this was disputed by deputy director general Adrian Lynch, who said the figure “seems high”.

Many well-known broadcasters are represented by NK Management, including RTÉ’s Dave Fanning, Kathryn Thomas, Drivetime host Cormac Ó hEadhra, as well as faces from the independent sector including Today FM’s Matt Cooper and Newstalk’s Pat Kenny.