Breaking: Is Kyle Sandilands quitting?
The shock jock threw a tantrum this morning because somebody pulled the plug on him. Does that mean this show won’t be coming to Brisbane, after all?
The world that revolves erratically around Kyle Sandilands went into another spin this morning after he was dumped while talking about a criminal case on air.
A discussion on the KIIS FM Sydney and Melbourne Kyle and Jackie O Show about a former reality show contestant accused of murdering her boyfriend was cut short.
Sandilands then returned to air to have a spray about the contempt of court law which, he claimed, applied differently to radio stations than to other media; the station management; and the media watchdog, ACMA.
He said he would not return to air until he could run the show his own way.
I don’t have the time or the inclination to go into the details (but others have). All I will say is that he is framing the situation as him rebelling against an unjust law, making a comparison between himself and journalist Derryn Hinch, who went to jail for naming accused p-dophiles on air. The situation is, of course, far more nuanced than that.
Sandilands’ tirade was also aimed at his manager and show director, Bruno Bouchet, who admitted ordering that the session be dumped over the “contempt of court stuff”.
Activist group Mad F—king Witches has written about the incident in some detail here on Facebook, including a link to the audio (which I have chosen not to post here).
It would seem likely that this latest episode will be reported to ACMA, which is yet to set a punishment for the show over a previous breach of its standards.
Will this all blow over? Was it just a stunt? Will Sandilands return to the show and, if so, when? Will the show ever make it to Brisbane, as is station owner ARN’s grand plan? What, if anything, will ACMA do?