RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

And PK’s idea of adding “more depth” to the LLS was to interview an ex-boxer without asking him about his management’s links to Ireland’s leading crime syndicate.😨

As another poster quite rightly pointed out previously on this thread or another similar one. Yes, it's been confirmed that the LLS country special has been pre-recorded.

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/arts---entertainment/1315775/rte-late-late-country-special-won-t-be-live-this-friday-as-fans-vent-frustration.html

The sudden and unexplained departure of the LLS Executive Producer is a devastating blow to RTE's efforts to revive its flagging flagship. The official line had been that PK had made a very successful start to his LLS career. So why ditch the top LLS executive unceremoniously yesterday?

Something dramatic must have happened in recent days but the media, and especially our "public broadcaster" are the most opaque and paranoid of organisations (remember that when you hear journalists demanding "full transparency" for everything and anything"). RTE hasn't offered an explanation to the dwindling number of its licence fee payers. Not even a leak from "unnamed sources close to the programme". I think the Sun is getting its quotes from PK's camp.

If the Executive Producer was a man, I would have guessed at a claim of sexual harassment but, in this case, I can think of only one issue which could have resulted in this dramatic change - the media backlash over the failure to ask Carl Frampton about his links to the Kinahan crime gang.

I could see two possible scenarios:

1. The LLS has sunk to a level where even B-list guests with books to promote can block any question they don't like ("full transparency" 😡). PK was embarrassed when the media called him out for the Frampton interview and insisted on a new Executive Producer who would stand up to would-be guests and leave PK free to manage the interview.
2. PK was in control of Frampton's LLS appearance from the get go. He wanted to promote Frampton's book (for which he wrote the preface) and didn't want to spoil the effect by reminding LLS viewers about the Kinahans and the drugs crisis plaguing this country. When the media backlash started, the Executive Producer tried to assert herself but PK insisted he has editorial control. Bakhurst back PK and found him a new, more compliant Executive Producer (does his contract give PK editorial control? No producer would dare second-guess Gaybo but what about Tubs?)

Either way, the LLS has been holed below the waterline. No A-lister will want to get into a show where the presenter is at war with the show's executives. Not that the LLS was troubled by A-listers in recent decades. Ordinary guests should be very wary - PK will want to show that he can ask the tough questions (except for his BFFs).