What happened with Sprints & a Fine Gael politician over the weekend?

If you were out and about and not paying attention to the Twitter discourse over the weekend you may have seen something about the Dublin band Sprints and a Fine Gael politician, and be unsure about what went on.

Well, here’s the story.

Sprints, the band who recently signed a label deal with European record label City Slang, performed live on the Tommy Tiernan show on Friday night, where they performed ‘Little Fix’. You can watch the video here on RTÉ.

Well, one of the people who watched the show live was Fine Gael TD spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Media Ciaran Cannon who wasn’t impressed with what he saw, tweeting: “I’ve heard better music from slightly embarrassed TY (Transition Year) students.”

Naturally, a Fine Gael spokesperson for arts and culture disparaging an upcoming successful Irish band was greeted with backlash.

Cannon is a musician himself, so should have a bit more sympathy especially considering his spokesperson role.

Cannon was forced to apologise for his ill-advised tweet (since removed) on Sunday.

Wishing @sprintsmusic every success in their career. My sincere apologies to them for my unkind comment, now removed. I’m never going to enjoy their music, something that won’t cause them any concern whatsoever. It was unfair of me to undermine young people doing their thing. C

— Ciaran Cannon (@ciarancannon) January 22, 2023

The band Sprints, took it well and we’re bemused before changing their bio to include “slightly embarrassed TY students” after the apology, saying

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“We just finished the last show of our short EU run but wanted to say thank you for the outpouring support we’ve received. Support the arts, pursue your passions and forget the naysayers. Ciaran, thanks for the free publicity.”

Indeed, Cannon’s tweet inadvertently brought the band to new audiences.

We just finished the last show of our short EU run but wanted to say thank you for the outpouring support we’ve received. Support the arts, pursue your passions and forget the naysayers. Ciaran, thanks for the free publicity x pic.twitter.com/ORsmVTrQWB

— Sprints (@sprintsmusic) January 22, 2023

In honour of @ciarancannon, our Fine Gael Spokesperson on Arts, Culture & Media hating on a new band Sprints performing Little Fix on the #TommyTiernanShow, here's the first half of that track (twitter limits…) pic.twitter.com/rm7I1Eg92v

— Dáithí K (@tvcritics) January 22, 2023

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