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14th Dec 2019

WATCH: Shane MacGowan closes out Late Late Show with Fairytale of New York

Darragh Murphy

Shane MacGowan

The Late Late Show’s Shane MacGowan special divided opinion on Friday night.

While there were plenty of lovely tributes paid to MacGowan by some legendary names from the world of music, there were also some suggestions on social media that the show was teetering on the exploitative given the frail appearance of the Pogues frontman.

As he has done throughout his career, MacGowan got people talking as he spoke to Ryan Tubridy in between renditions of some Pogues classics.

The 61-year-old addressed the ongoing controversy regarding Fairytale of New York and the use of the word ‘faggot’ in the lyrics sung by Kirsty MacColl.

MacGowan dismissed the complaints with an expletive and said: “Nobody in the band thinks that’s worth a second’s thought.”

“There is no political correctness to it,” he added. “I’ve been told it’s insulting to gays; I don’t understand how that works.”

After the likes of Glen Hansard, Patrick Bergin, Moya Brennan, Aidan Gillen and Pat McCabe paid tribute to MacGowan, the Late Late Show closed with a live performance of Fairytale of New York.

Joining MacGowan for the duet was Philomena Begley, who appeared to lose her place at times while singing her parts of the Christmas classic.

Some loved the performance, despite its unpolished nature, although there was no shortage of complaints about the entire episode.

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