Shocking remark on Paul Burt show
Network pulls program, agreeing that domestic violence is no laughing matter
Update, April 5, 9.45am: Burt has made an apology, published here by TV Tonight, blaming the departure mid-production of an editor who, he assures us, would’ve normally cut the comment out. He said: “Whilst searching for a replacement I have endeavoured to manage this aspect of the production and I had thought the offensive comments had been removed. I was clearly wrong in this assumption and as mentioned above I am absolutely appalled and upset that the show aired as it did.”
At the very least this speaks to a lack of checks and balances within the production company and at the broadcaster.
A few weeks ago, I noted that 4BC’s Step Outside with Paul Burt radio show sounded very “blokey”.
I also questioned something Burt said about “lady luck” when a caller noted that she had caught more fish than her husband.
But today something far more disturbing has come to light.
Amanda Meade in The Guardian has reported on a complaint made to Free TV about an episode of the Step Outside with Paul Burt television show, which is screened on 7Mate and available online on 7Plus.
A guest — not Burt himself — on a cooking segment advised viewers to “Beat the egg like you beat the missus … that’s what I do. Tie her to a tree and beat her with fencing wire.”
4.15pm Friday update: It seems the entire series has been removed from Seven Plus (see above)
If you think that’s funny, consider that, according to a recent petition to Parliament, “Queensland Police are attending 526 DV occurrences across the State every day. In 2023-24, the Queensland Police Service responded to more than 192,000 DFV occurrences up from 171,000 the previous year. So far in 2024-25, DFV occurrences are up by 8%, meaning the number of DFV occurrences will likely exceed 210,000 this financial year.”
To their credit, Seven network management took decisive action when contacted by Meade. As she reports in The Guardian (towards the end of the Weekly Beast column):
“Seven was appalled and shocked by the comments made by a guest in Step Outside with Paul Burt,” the Seven Television group managing director, Angus Ross, said in a statement to Weekly Beast.
“They were abhorrent and totally unacceptable. The show has been removed from 7Mate and 7Plus with immediate effect. Seven unreservedly apologises to viewers.”
While Burt did not personally make the remark, the show goes out under his name and brand, and it would seem that neither he nor anybody else involved with the program had a problem with putting it to air in the first place.
As Lt General David Morrison famously said in his anti-misogyny speech, “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”
The viewer who made the complaint asked for an apology and a donation to a domestic violence service. They got the former, I hope the latter is forthcoming, too.
Burt’s employers at Nine Radio have a role to play here going forward. As a minimum, they may wish to take their new star aside to remind him about the seriousness of DV, educate him about the use of misogynistic language, and acquaint him on the appropriate use of the “dump” button lest his one of his 4BC guests uses similar language to his TV guest.
Disclaimer: Brett Debritz used to be a producer with 4BC.
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oh dear. not good.