Tommy Tiernan released a statement that said he had not meant to cause offence and that his words has been taken out of context. He said that the comments were part of an attempt to explain his belief that comedians have a duty to be irresponsible and reckless, to allow "whatever lunacy is within you to come out" and that they should never be taken out of context. He added that the statements that had caused controversy had been preceded by a statement not to take the rant seriously.



Olaf Tyaransen wrote that neither he nor Tommy Tiernan had anticipated the subsequent response to unreserved comments made by the comedian during an afternoon interview at the Electric Picnic — an end-of-season arts & music festival. Tyaransen said the last question asked from the floor (by an audience member readily identifiable by a green 'Palestina' t-shirt) about a dogged charge of anti-Semitism led to the comments at issue, and part of Tiernan's response recounted criticism of his routine by a Jewish couple after a show in New York. Olaf Tyaransen claimed Tiernan's subsequent ideas — focusing on a "two-at-a-time" efficiency concerning the systematic murder of millions of Jews — had been taken out of context, though he personally held the comedian's monologue as 'very funny' and said as much on Marian Finucane's RTÉ Radio 1 show of the 26th September 2009.