IT WAS a verbal accident, a slip of the Irish tenor’s golden tongue, that threatened to smash Ronan Tynan’s legend into pieces.
Tynan was distraught, but eager to set the record straight. “I have never in my life been anti-Semitic,” he said repeatedly at the onset of our conversation. “The killer is . . . three members of my band are Jewish and the band is called Brothers from Another Mother.”
So why did baseball team the New York Yankees cancel Tynan's rendition of God Bless Americaat last night's play-off game? And why did NBC New York rank Tynan's allegedly anti-Semitic remark as the top exclusive on its website?
To explain, Tynan turns the clock back three weeks, to a chance meeting with an estate agent outside his Manhattan apartment.
“Two Jewish ladies were coming to view it and the agent said, ‘They are very particular’. And I said, ‘I don’t know how they will deal with having a singer beside them, practising all the time. That could be scary.’ We laughed about it.”
Tynan (49), from Kilkenny, had both legs amputated after a boating accident when he was 20. He studied medicine, became a recording artist and emigrated to New York 10 years ago. He became famous for singing at memorial services for firefighters and police killed on September 11th, at Ronald Reagan’s funeral, George W Bush’s White House and the wedding of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. He is best known for his performances at Yankees games.
On Thursday morning, another estate agent showed up with a potential tenant. “At least they’re not [Boston] Red Sox fans,” the agent joked. “At least they’re not the Jewish ladies,” Tynan replied, alluding to the finicky clients he had met earlier.
Dr Gabrielle Gold-von Simson, the prospective tenant, who is Jewish and a paediatrician at NYU Medical Centre, asked: “Why would you say that?” Tynan replied: “That would be scary” and laughed. “I referred back to the previous three weeks, when I had that conversation with the estate agent’s partner,” Tynan explained.
He did not realise he had gaffed until the Yankees telephoned to say his gig was cancelled.
“They said, ‘We got a complaint from this lady’ and I couldn’t believe it. I rang her up and explained the whole story and apologised and said I would never do anything that would in any way be hurtful. I am so sorry my comment was offensive.”
Dr Gold-von Simson accepted the apology and suggested Tynan make a contribution to the children’s centre. He’s donating more than $1,000 and is trying to patch up his relationship with the Yankees.
“Sometimes you make a flippant comment,” Tynan said.
“You’re joking about it and you never realise in the process you might be hurting someone. So I’ve learned a valuable lesson.”