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Senior Late Late producer leaves show after ‘tensions’ with Patrick Kielty

The new Late Late host came under fire for failing to quiz boxer Carl Frampton about MTK Global.

Yesterday at 09:49

A senior RTÉ producer has left the Late Late Show following ‘tensions’ with host Patrick Kielty, it has been reported

According to the Irish Examiner, executive producer Jane Murphy has decided to leave the flagship show just weeks into its new season.

Having overseen the relaunch this year of the Late Late following Ryan Tubridy’s departure, Ms Murphy is now taking up a different role within television, Head of Entertainment Alan Tyler told the paper.

In a statement, Alan Tyler, RTÉ’s group head of entertainment, confirmed she had left and thanked Ms Murphy for her contribution and role in the production.

“As a highly experienced Executive Producer, Jane Murphy worked on The Late Late Show for the past five months in pre-planning and production including taking Patrick and the show to air for the first four weeks,” he said.

“Now that the brand-new series has been established, she will be taking up a different role within television.

“I want to thank Jane for her steady stewardship and hard graft over the last five months to get the new show up and running and off to a great start.

“Myself, Patrick and the team are very grateful and have our heads down now in the flow of the new season.”

It comes after a number of issues arose on the show according to the Examiner.

Kielty had also been reportedly stung by some media coverage regarding his interview with boxer Carl Frampton.

Kielty came under fire for failing to bring up the boxer’s links to the now defunct MTK boxing firm which was founded by Daniel Kinahan.

It was pointed out that Kielty, who had written the foreword in ‘Carl Frampton My Autobiography’, never mentioned the controversy surrounding MTK Global which The Sunday World rectified the following day as the Belfast man (36), signed copies of his new book in Dublin.

Frampton told us how MTK, the sports event and management company founded by Kinahan, got him the biggest pay-out of his career.

Frampton, who was the WBA and IBF super-bantamweight champion as well as the WBA featherweight champion during his career, signed an advisory deal with MTK in 2017 after an acrimonious split from his former manager Barry McGuigan.

Kinahan’s involvement in organised crime was well documented by the time Frampton signed with MTK, and last year the US government offered a $5 million reward for information that will lead to the Dubliner’s arrest and conviction for participating in transnational organised crime.

However, speaking to the Sunday World at his book signing, Frampton said he had no regrets for signing to MTK despite Kinahan’s crime links.

“I joined MTK because they were a boxing promotional company, managerial company, working in America, working everywhere really, with some of the biggest promoters in the world. Do I regret joining them? I absolutely don’t.”

He said he wasn’t paid by MTK but they set up deals that made him significant money.

“They never paid me. They done (sic) deals with promoters.

“They spoke to the promoters and the promoters make the payments. They [MTK] ensured that I was paid well from the promoters. The other stuff doesn’t concern me. I was a boxer boxing and that was it. No regrets.”

Asked if he didn’t care about Kinahan’s criminal activities, he said: “It’s not that I don’t care. Obviously, I’ve got a heart, but I was a boxer focusing on boxing and they managed my boxing career very well.

“They got me by far the biggest pay-out of my career against Josh Warrington as a challenger for the world title.

“They kind of helped out with the Windsor Park fight [against Luke Jackson in 2018]. Obviously Frank Warren put it on.”

Asked again did Kinahan’s involvement in organised crime not concern him, he said: “I just focused on boxing mate. That’s all I focused on.”

Frampton thanks MTK in the acknowledgements of the book, which was written by former MTK chief strategy officer Paul D. Gibson.

Gibson was named as a defendant alongside Kinahan in a civil case in the US in a high-profile legal wrangle between Heredia Boxing Management and MTK, over Mexican boxer Jo Jo Diaz.

The Diaz case was not the only legal case concerning MTK taking over management of boxers.

Frampton had an acrimonious split from Barry McGuigan’s Cyclone Promotions when he signed to MTK in 2017.

Frampton and Cyclone Promotions sued each other in a multi-million High Court case in Belfast with Frampton suing for alleged withheld earnings and McGuigan counter-suing for breach of contract.

Both sides denied the allegations against them, and the case was eventually settled out of court in 2020.

Frampton discussed their falling out when he appeared on The Late Late Show on Friday night. “I understand that Barry is a hero to many people. He was a hero to me. But if you read this book, and still think he is a hero, you need to give your head a wobble.”

McGuigan previously spoke out against Daniel Kinahan in a 2021 BBC Panorama programme on Kinahan’s involvement in boxing.

He said other figures in the boxing world were too frightened to speak out about Kinahan.

Frampton criticised the Panorama programme at the time, saying: “It’s ‘investigative journalism’ but I don’t know how much investigation was done.”