Kyle Sandilands issues open letter to the media and apologises for comments
Today Network presenter Kyle Sandilands has issued an apology to News Limited journalist Alison Stephenson more than a fortnight after launching an outspoken personal attack on her.
Sandilands’ apology – in the form of an open letter to the media – came after a growing number of brands said they would not support the Kyle & Jackie O Show with advertising when it returns next year. There was growing speculation – fiercely denied – that Southern Cross Austereo was considering firing him.
In his attack Sandilands had made personal comments about Stephenson’s appearance and described her as a “piece of shit”.
In today’s comments Sandilands signalled that he regretted the abuse which had fallen upon the radio network’s staff as a result of public outrage over his remarks.
Oh well. All is forgiven then. Let’s just move on. If he’s sorry, I’m sure he won’t do it again….
Dear Kyle’s PR person / crisis manager, Congratulations on the well written letter it struck a good tone. Shame he wasn’t savvy enough to allow you to issue it within a couple of days of the incident 🙂
Far too little, way too late
The deep, deep sincerity pulls on my heart-strings.
Every time there is a controversy they seem to commit to developing procedures, they mustn’t be very good at it. The enablers at Austereo may just go down with the ship if the boycotts keep up. I’ve already cancelled my TPG account which was a shame as I never had any problem with their service.
Troublesome situation? Not sure that’s the word I’d use to describe his comments.
Apology not accepted.
I just cannot believe it.
Advertisers who still advertise on Austereo – who hire Kyle – are 100% responsible for this guy still being around.
It’s not enough to just pull your dollars from his show and stick them in another, and you will be held accountable.
The PC brigade is at it again! First banning films and now free speech. Salman Rushdie once said “What is freedom of speech? Without the right to offend, it ceases to exist.” Amen.
You call this an apology?? SCA you deserve all the loss in revenue you get for endorsing such a vile misoginist
Translation:
I am in no way sorry for what I said. The stupid fat slag deserved everything she got, and more. However, as sponsors continue to desert the show, my employers feel it’s in our best interests for me to offer a belated apology of sorts. So here it is, and I hope you all choke on it, you fucking jealous pieces of shit.
Yours most insincerely,
Kyle.
ps – Jackie is happily nodding in agreement in the background. She’s good at that.
BOB – AMEN!!
Well, the PC brigade didn’t win – he’ll be back next year.
Bob / Kyle,
I’m as un PC as you can get. Encouraging violent, intimidatory and derogatory behaviour towards women by a role model with a huge youth audience is not a freedom of speech argument.
Anyway, here’s a song to cheer you up mate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQs3jZbxFTQ&feature=related
Dear Hmmmmm,
I couldn’t have said it better myself. A fantastic analysis!
I can hear the violins playing!
A useless apology is useless
So it took Kyle over two weeks to write that?
Writers block, or complete cock?
you decide.
I don’t believe a word of it.
I agree with Scott… too little too late.
How humiliating for Kyle – finally forced to eat crow in public. HaHa!
Yep @ hmmmmm – couldn’t agree with you more. If he was going to be sacked – or any was going to be taken it would have been within days of this happening. How can you think you are excused for saying whatever you like – because you are a “shock jock” you’re not Kyle – you are an idiot – albeit – a highly paid one, with bosses who let you get away with anything you want to.
What a dick
Austereo should let him go. Time and time he shows no respect, and his apology letter was clearly just lip service.
Just leave. Go away. Please.
The annoying thing is, by the time they come back on air, every1 will have forgotten this and move on. He’ll stuff up again and we’ll be back to square one. We live in a society and have a media that has a 90 memory. Once that 90 is up…no one even remembers that something has happened…Let alone cares, because something new is here, like Kim Kardashian or a footballer being stupid.
@Missy.
No, it took them them long to convince him that his edits weren’t sending the right message.
But then again, neither did theirs….
Who is his target audience demographic?
Most young, technologically-savvy people seem to loathe him. He seems too “city” to appeal to rural listeners. Older (bigoted) radio listeners surely follow Alan Jones. Is there a specific demographic of young bigots that relates well to him?
Definitely too little too late for VileKyle – and for Austereo.
Austereo only began looking at the situation closely when it lost dollars, and the result has been this apology from Sandilands.
It’s clear they were unconcerned about the inappropriateness of Sandiland’s behaviour, they were simply concerned about the dollars.
That really shows clearly the contempt and disdain with which both Austereo’s management and Sandilands holds women.
And JackieZero hasn’t apologised at all for standing by and supporting his position through her silence.
It was once said “For evil to triumph it is enough only that good men do nothing” – that goes for women as well.
Both Sandilands and Jackie should be denied public platforms by media organisations. If they want to keep spitting their bile, they can create podcasts – and not be sheltered by a media organisation.
How many Kyle haters out there actually:
1. Listened to his show, got offended and stopped listening;
or
2. Would start listening to 2dayfm if he were sacked?
It’s his 10.6% share of breakfast radio listeners that’s keeping him in a job.
I can’t work out if people referring to the company as Austereo are lazy, or ignorant.
You nambypambys think you have won?? HAHAHA
Kyle is ubiquitous in OZ. Kyle is a boganmaster in this land of bogans.
teehee……Guess what? The kids love him.
…..cause we got the boogie!
Apology? I wonder which SCA minion penned that fairy tale?
@ HMMMM, Got it perfectly mate.
He is a vile, unethical broadcaster who is endorsed, monetarily and publicly, by SCA who obviously agree with his point and view and don’t mind is misogynist and ugly comments.
Has this apology been written because SCA is losing money, not because it could have, and should have, been something verbal – not written – and issued moments after his ridiculous outburst?
All the PR in the world could not turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse. He is what he is. Shame on SCA for employing him and allowing him access to the public airways; shame on Channel Seven for providing him with a platform; shame on listeners for encouraging this unacceptable behaviour. Good on the advertisers who have cut and run.
He will “apologise” for anything if it saves him from losing his job worth $2m a year.
Just shows how pathetic our society is that this is the issue gets people fired up.
‘ the issue THAT gets people fired up.’ 🙂
Not sure why this douchebag is still employed…
@ Golden Mike – I used to be a loyal 2Day listener but I stopped listening about four years ago when Kyle just got too much to handle and he offended me one too many times. I would gladly switch back to 2Day if Kyle was gone – I like their music programming and in general their other presenters are alright, I just can’t bring myself to support anything Kyle is involved in.
It’s all well and good for Austereo to be surveying their current listeners, but what about the long tail of people just like me who would switch back if he was gone?
So Kyle starts with he’s the victim (“I give as agood as I get”) defence the apologises. Hmm. That’s not an apology. You did not “give as good you got”. If you did then no apology is needed.
When you put an idiot on the radio spruiking stupid ideas, you are going to get a listening audience filled with the weakest of minds. And those are the ones that advertisers want because there are so many of them and they will buy your toothpaste/internet connection/4wd/alcohol because you told them it was cool.
It’s pretty simple. There are loads of people out there that aren’t intellectually gifted. They will be fans of Kyle, with the added bonus of being overtly susceptible to advertising devices.
The sad thing is he probably believes he has made a proper apology……
such a TOOL!
@ bandit – you’ve hit on the real problem. Kyle’s audience seem to be those who are most easily led and influenced by “idiots on radio spruiking stupid ideas” rather than those capable of individual thought or reason – for this reason these people are also most likely to blindly follow the train of thought that its ok to be intimidating and/or violent towards women. These are vulnerable minds that surely there is a responsibility to steer towards a moral high ground?
Of course then there’s Alan Jones…….
So happy that Austereo kept the scum bag – fingers crossed their revenue, ratings and listeners drop off they don’t deserve it!
Hmmm hit the nail on the head, I bet his manger wrote his apology. This man is not capable of being sincere – to many apologies over the years no one believes you anymore.
Good luck with other crap show!
if you don’t like him don’t listen to his show, if lots of people don’t listen to his show then he will lose his show, if he loses his show he loses his significance. End of story. Where were all these people when Alan Jones said that he wanted to put the PM in a chaff bag and dump her out to see? I think a lot of people just wanted to see Kyle taken down than stand up for women’s rights.
@Angry – advertisers are not to blame. Advertisers follow listeners and people listen in big numbers. Australia loves Kyle. More specifically, Sydney-siders love Kyle. As hard as that is to fathom.
@Bandit – not everyone who listens is a cretin. If there were that many “people out there that aren’t intellectually gifted” trying to be cool there’d be a lot more people calling themselves names like Bandit..
He’s a monster but we created him.
Shame on him for apologising. He’s doing exactly what he’s paid to do and holding the market share his employers want, why should SCR force his agency to dish a fake apology? Because a few internet tears were shed buy some keyboard warriors, most of whom probably never listen to his show anyway? This is a shallow victory for the likes of the mouthbreathers and dole bludgers that make up the news.com.au comments sections.
To be honest though I had a great chuckle at the brands falling over themselves in a race to be the biggest lemming for 20 seconds of favourable social media coverage instead of riding out the storm by pretending to have the “account under review” and leveraging your support for a much better deal.
Can’t believe he’s still there!
Not an apology, it’s a total travesty.
^this guy is smarter than most other guys.
OR GIRLS SORRY IM NOT KYLE HEY
Now will he apologise to Geoff Field for the abuse he had to put up with for years in order to keep his job? Jackie is no better, in fact she is the one usually egging him on off air. Perhaps we should look at who the real puppet master is?
@Edward Flanagan the great thing about this case is the people realise it’s the brands that sponsor shows that keep them afloat.
If your brand sponsored Nazi’s in Germany, or people who joked about sending an overweight Polish person there to lose some weight, you’re guilty of funding that show – and guilty by association.
Why don’t brands advertise in white-power magazines?
I don’t think Kyle is being that sincere. Why isn’t ACMA acting to take this guy down?! Personally, if I had run 2DAY FM, I’d have him fired long ago!
Wow big news! Rhys Holleran calls Kylke Sandilands “troublesome situation”. In any other workplace Sandilands would be sacked. There’s no sincerety here in his open letter, no responsiblity taken and the time lag between the incident and the contrition(?). It’s obvious he’s been stood over by management, who are under the delusion that Kyle is and has talent. His show isn’t controversial it’s a mess. He bangs on about inane and trival rubbish while Jackie O giggles and then inevitable enables Kyle who manufactures junvenile antics to attract attention. Duh! He’s no Howard Stern. Austereo grow some cahoonas and sack him.
Bob
Free speech? What Bolllocks. Freedom of expression doesn’t protect verbal assaults.
The only one attacking free expression was Sandilands with heavy intimidation backed by an unspecified threat of violence (I’ll hunt you down).
What you’re suggesting is that honouring someone’s right to violently stamp out dissenting voices is somehow a win for civil liberties.
That’s insanely wrongheaded.
Ok so I get that Kyle is vile and Jackie O is a bland bitch follower!
Kyle is everything that I loathe, likewise with Jackie O! Bogans pretending to be cultured just cus they’ve got a ridiculously high paying job and a large, youth orientated media platform… BUT… Truth be told…
I love passively listening to them in the car! I love their inane cringe-worthy, imperceptive critiques on anything unimportant and especially when they tout socially acceptable conventions… Like the teenage rape tape and the news ltd journo fiasco it’s like watching a train wreck!
And advertisers know that there are positively and negatively engaged users listening to their malarkey, and so advertise there because it’s got the reach! Simple as! Maybe your brand isn’t benefiting from the associations with this vile Bogan moaning of a show program, but at least you are getting the reach!
Anyone agree??? And don’t blame advertisers! Blame the listeners! But not me?! As I listen for a joke and for some controversy!