By Edaein OConnell
22nd Sep 2020
22nd Sep 2020
With the British once more trying to claim Paul Mescal as one of their own, we look at six times the Kildare actor proved he was undoubtedly Irish
I am so sorry, Paul.
I am oh so sorry.
They are at it again, the English. Claiming what isn’t theirs. Coming onto our grass and asserting ownership of something that is sacredly Irish.
We are a proud people. Out of oppression, we blossomed, and now we hold our heritage close to our heart. Sometimes we need to remind our friends across the water of our shared history. This is fine, we don’t mind, but we seem to be doing it a lot more in recent months.
We don’t like it when the English call an Irish person British. They have tried to claim Saoirse Ronan, Chris O’ Dowd, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and now they won’t stop trying to gain ownership of our beloved Paul Mescal.
Paul is the son we always wanted, the boyfriend we always dreamed of and the inside defender we always needed.
We won’t let the British take him.
With the Kildare native nominated for an Emmy during the week, his name was sprawled across various media outlets’ landing page. Once more, some of these outlets maintained he was British.
Really important that we point out that Paul Mescal is IRISH and that Ireland is IN. NO. WAY. PART OF Britain. pic.twitter.com/UTxyvLiX5C
— Steven James Lally (@stevenjlally) September 21, 2020
In the name of all that is Michael Collins, we have to ask if it’s for hate clicks? These organisations must know the vitriol these headlines create. We get angry and annoyed and they get the numbers.
While this may be the case, I think it’s time we study Paul Mescal’s ‘Irishness.’ Because Brexit doesn’t look too good, I am taking it upon myself to heal the relationships between us neighbours.
I will do this by exhibiting six times Paul Mescal was undoubtedly Irish.
The European Union can thank me later.
This picture
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It’s the football shorts. The hair and the gum shield. The club jersey. It’s the way he holds the ball as if it’s a baby he helped birth with his bare hands in the middle of the pitch. It’s the way the crazed look on his face screams, “I have to make the most of my prime before I’m playing Junior B football.”
All we have to say is drive it on up through the midfield, Paul.
Drive it on.
The time he embodied ‘Irish lad at a music festival’
manifesting emmy winner paul mescal today pic.twitter.com/18i1bhniSz
— david (@Ioversdiscourse) September 20, 2020
During the summer, Mr Mescal was pictured returning from the shop dressed like this. At that very moment, the heart of the nation stopped beating because this picture is ‘Irish lad at a music festival.’ It’s the vintage jacket that some boys in this country think counts as a personality trait, the cans of gin and tonic, and the ‘happy as Larry’ walk.
It’s scauldy but sexual.
Please don’t deny it; you have shifted him before.
The O’ Neills shorts
Kinda bummed summer is ending because it means no more Paul Mescal in short shorts. pic.twitter.com/c4uQzkBKe4
— liz. (@stancurator) September 6, 2020
No British man would ever look as good or as at home in a pair of O’ Neills shorts. There I said it, and I will not take it back. He wore them with gusto and reverence, and somewhere in Kildare, there is a football club carrying out a seance with said shorts trying to will him back for championship.
The time he played every Irish boy we have ever been in a romantic relationship with
When Paul burst onto our scenes as Connell Waldron, women and men of this country experienced what I like to call Post Traumatic Romantic Disorder (PTRD). This condition is triggered when we find ourselves reminded of past lovers and experience traumatic memories and flashbacks. For much of Normal People, the fight or flight response was on alert. He was detached, awkward, sometimes cold, couldn’t communicate his feelings, said ‘I don’t know’ a lot and played GAA. At times, it felt like we were watching our own boyfriend on the screen.
Only an Irish man could play a role with such authenticity.
The time he still looked Irish in Louis Vuitton
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I can’t explain it, but Paul Mescal just has an Irish look about him. Some would say he has an Irish head and I have to agree that this is the highest compliment anyone could receive. The actor wore Louis Vuitton on Emmys night and I can still imagine him at a wedding saying, “I’m definitely not drinking bombs but I’ll do a Baby Guinness alright.”
We love to see it.
The time he said “I’m Irish”
I’m Irish.
— Paul Mescal (@mescal_paul) July 29, 2020
I don’t know how he can make it any clearer.
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