Hermitage Green's Barry Murphy addresses controversial T-shirt

HERMITAGE Green singer and guitarist Barry Murphy has addressed controversy around a T-shirt he wore onstage this weekend.

The T-shirt featured a picture of the character Chief Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider, in the movie Jaws, with the caption "Size of that c*nt".

The former Munster rugby player took to social media to explain his thought process behind the T-shirt:

"I would like to address the complaints made against my t-shirt at the festival in Kansas City last night. It appears some people have taken massive offence to the slogan written over Chief Brody’s face but I must assure you no offence was intended," he wrote in an Instagram post.

"Some have suggested that it’s a politically charged T-shirt and with the upcoming elections in the US this is clearly a polarised place right now and people are highly charged.

"As many of you might know, Jaws is my favourite film and the depth to its meaning and metaphor seem to have no end. This shot of Brody is taken after we get our first full look at the shark which amazingly doesn’t occur until 82 mins in. Although this was not Spielberg's initial plan and is largely down to the malfunctioning of the mechanical shark it is undoubtedly the most powerful play in the whole movie. In that 82 minutes the suspense built around the unknown and with the help of the incredible score from John Williams allows the shark to develop a personality which makes it all the more terrifying. This time also allows Brody in particular to develop his character and ultimately, for me, Jaws becomes a film about a father trying to protect his sons from the dangers of the world. He wants them to experience all the beauty in life and understands they will have to endure suffering but he is ever ready to save them from the monsters lurking in the deep. Brody is the best of us.

"I chose that moment for my T-shirt because it is when he first confronts the horror but he still keeps his cool. I didn’t choose the quote 'we’re gonna need a bigger boat' because it would be too obvious and then would just be another Jaws T-shirt. So I said to myself, if I was Brody what would I say? Well I’m Irish and I’d like to think I’m not easily scared or shocked so I would hope I’d keep my cool and say something very Irish like 'size of that c*nt'.

"Now, this is a jarring and polarising word but in my opinion it can be used in many ways, i.e. I've often described some of my favourite people in the world as 'good c*nts'. So when I say 'size of that c*nt' I'm purely referencing what Brody may have said about how big the shark was and that they might indeed need a bigger boat"

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He added a peace out fingers emoji and a love heart emoji, and ended the caption with "* Merch incoming".

One commenter on the post said "I will have the T-shirt for sale at the next gig. Lots of them" with a guitar emoji.

Another fan commented "I'd definitely buy one", while one joked "I'll take ten".

The band played at the Kansas City Irish Fest in the US city on Saturday, August 31 and Sunday, September 1.

They took to the Rankins Wood stage on the Sunday night of Electric Picnic this summer, and more recently played their biggest headline show of the year at Limerick Docklands.

The band will be performing at the 3 Olympia theatre on Thursday, December 3.