Matthew Ridge podcast The Brink sees the presenter use gay slurs
NZ Herald
1 Jul, 2024 02:45 AM2 mins to read
Matthew Ridge's new podcast The Brink debuted over the weekend. Photo / Greg Bowker
Matthew Ridge has debuted his new podcast The Brink with celebrity co-host David Ring over the weekend, promising to offend the “woke”.
Video clips shared on Instagram have shown the former rugby and league player using gay slurs while recording the podcast, and telling listeners “you can’t cancel me”.
Ridge and Ring both live in Monaco, Ridge having moved there with his wife Chloe, originally from France, and their children. Spy reported over the weekend that the pair met in Monaco and bonded over both having ADHD and a “love of deep, judgment-free conversation”.
So far, those conversations have included Ridge dropping the slur “f**” in reference to gay people, and telling his audience: “I’ve got plenty of gay friends because my mother’s gay, by the way.
“I’ve been raised in the gay community, so to speak. You can’t cancel me.”
Ring, who moved to Monaco five years ago with his husband of 10 years, James Vaile, responded that Ridge couldn’t be “cancelled”, “because I’m here, and I’m not getting offended”.
Ridge then recalled feeling “uncomfortable” because Ring was “dressed like a queer”. “Like a raving f***ing pink, just don’t dress like a pinky”.
Elsewhere during the episode, the pair decried “cancel culture” and “wokeness”.
Ridge also took aim at the LGBTQIA+ abbreviation in a separate clip.
Ring responded jokingly, “This man needs to be judged.”
The podcast is former TV and rugby figure Ridge’s latest venture, after the second series of his show Designing Dreams, which profiles Kiwi architects and their work.
Speaking to Spy ahead of the podcast’s launch over the weekend, Ring said listeners could expect “unfiltered” and “borderline inappropriate” banter.
“But always under the umbrella of mutual respect and an agreement that no matter how seemingly offensive we are to each other, that it is only ever said and received in good faith and humour,” he said, adding, “essentially we’re in constant competition to see who can pay each other out the most”.
“We see the world turning away from the polarised status of cancel culture and hope to explore more of the grey zone that has been off bounds for too long, where questions can and should be asked freely.”
