{"id":453771,"date":"2026-05-17T17:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/453771\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T17:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:17:09","slug":"it-feels-kind-of-forced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/453771\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;It feels kind of forced&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Darren Kennedy is juggling two continents, two TV gigs and a brand new dating show, and he\u2019s loving every minute of it.<\/p>\n<p>The presenter and stylist was at the VIP Style Awards at the InterContinental Hotel in Dublin on Friday night, cutting a dapper figure in a suit he designed himself in collaboration with Louis Copeland.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/extra.ie\/2026\/05\/15\/entertainment\/tommy-fleming-newstalk-interview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kennedy<\/a>, who divides his time between Ireland and Los Angeles, told <a href=\"http:\/\/Extra.ie\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Extra.ie<\/a> he\u2019s been clocking up serious air miles. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ve probably got the most Aer Lingus miles of anyone in the country,\u2019 he laughed.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Tommy-Fleming-8.jpg\" alt=\"Tommy Fleming\" class=\"wp-image-1772836\"  \/>Tommy Fleming. Pic: VIP Ireland<\/p>\n<p>He confirmed he\u2019ll continue co-hosting the Six O\u2019Clock Show alongside Brian Dowling over the summer. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019ve had a brilliant relationship, two years now,\u2019 he said. \u2018I\u2019m doing it for the summer, more or less, with Brian. And then I have other commitments.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Those commitments include Hey Gay, an upcoming digital dating show that Kennedy both devised and executive produced. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018I just filmed it,\u2019 he told Extra.ie. The show is expected to drop later this summer.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I love the bonkers of Hollywood and all that,\u2019 he said of his transatlantic lifestyle, \u2018but I love some balance too.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Virgin-Media-Autumn-schedule-launch-2025-34.jpg\" alt=\"Darren Kennedy at the Virgin Media Television new season schedule launch at The Stella Cinema in Dublin. Pic: Brian McEvoy\" class=\"wp-image-1682798\"  \/>Darren Kennedy at the Virgin Media Television new season schedule launch at The Stella Cinema in Dublin. Pic: Brian McEvoy<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It feels kind of forced, and that\u2019s never right\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Attending the Style Awards for the first time in six years, Kennedy also weighed in on <a href=\"https:\/\/evoke.ie\/2026\/05\/16\/entertainment\/tommy-fleming-radio-interview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the story that has dominated Irish media<\/a> this week: folk singer Tommy Fleming\u2019s public coming out.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking as a gay man himself, Kennedy was measured but heartfelt. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018My first instinct was I feel so upset that he wasn\u2019t able to live his truth,\u2019 he said. \u2018The way everything has come out, it just feels kind of forced, and that\u2019s never right.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy came out at just 15 or 16, telling close friends and his brother before his parents. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018My dad accepted it straight away, my mum got upset initially,\u2019 he recalled. \u2018But they\u2019re my biggest allies now.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>His message for anyone in a similar position was simple. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018Live your truth, because you have one shot at this life. I wouldn\u2019t change a single thing. I wish Tommy all the best.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Darren Kennedy is juggling two continents, two TV gigs and a brand new dating show, and he\u2019s loving&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-453771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}