Ronan Tynan is as dumb as a box of rocks but he is not anti-Semitic.

That is my sense of the dreadful comments he made to a Jewish doctor who was seeking an apartment in his building.

Tynan has had extraordinary pain in his own life, losing his legs to amputation as a young man, yet overcoming great adversity to become a medical doctor, tenor and motivational speaker.

Someone with such a life experience certainly understands how difficult life can be for others and his extraordinary work for a range of charities bears witness to that.

I would be very surprised if Tynan's comments were offered in any way other than as a bad joke. He immediately 'fessed up to them and put them in that context which was exactly the right thing to do.

Read more: Ronan Tynan learns “what’s so great about Americans” during 2002 accident

I believe him and believe this incident is different to the Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan who ranted on about how not enough Jews were killed in the Holocaust during a recent concert in Ireland

Tiernan's comments were premeditated, inexcusable and calculated to shock and they did. Tynan's comments were a foolish slip of the tongue, an attempt at a bad joke that fell very flat indeed.

However, his career does not deserve to suffer as a result. He did much to lift America's spirits after 9/11 and has become associated with that heroic era when the country stood tall despite the dreadful events.

He deserves to be forgiven and the doctor concerned has just done that. The incident should be left there.