news.com.au is reporting:
Kyle Sandilands has been dumped as a judge on Network Ten’s music talent show, Australian Idol, the network announced today.
“Obviously culminating with events of last week, we have made the decision that Kyle will no longer be a judge on Australian Idol,” Ten programming boss David Mott said on the station’s 5pm news.
“Australian Idol is very much a family program and its appeal is very much right across the board and we’d like to think that all families can enjoy the program in front of the TV.”
Ten released a statement saying the decision had come after “significant discussions and consideration”.
“We thank Kyle for his contribution to Australian Idol over the last four years,” the statement said.
In Crikey’s earlier report:
This is the story that keeps on giving. Since Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O’s seedy on air stunt with a 14-year-old girl a week ago, the media has been busily beating up the Austereo network with mock disdain.
And today, just as you’d think the yarn had been picked apart, along comes another thread for the media to unravel, with news that the pair are in recess pending some kind of inquiry into the station’s standards.
Last night Austereo issued a curious press release announcing that both Sandilands and Jackie O would be replaced today by another presenter. Understandably this was quickly interpreted as a suspension but apparently that is not the case.
The first line of the statement, issued by Austereo’s Sydney General Manager, Jenny Parkes, suggests it was Sandilands and not Austereo which initiated what the station is now describing as a “recess”.
Kyle Sandilands’ management has advised that he is unable to perform his duties on-air at this time. Further, following a great deal of consideration and having consulted Jackie O and all stakeholders, Austereo has formed the view that in the interest of all parties, for the Kyle and Jackie O Show to go into recess until we have completed an across-the-networks review of the principals (sic) and protocols of our interaction with our audience. This review commenced last Wednesday 29 July 2009.
Sandilands’ manager, Andrew Hawkins, could not be reached this morning and Austereo’s chairman, Peter Harvie, told Crikey that the statement was the only explanation Austereo would be giving. When asked whether the statement meant that Sandilands had effectively rebuffed the network, he said no comment”.
The statement could be read as a mutual declaration of “stuff you”, with Sandilands furious that he’s been dropped in it by a network that thrives on stupid pranks and the network furious that Sandilands has had the gall to refuse to turn up to work.
As all of this unfolds, the marketing team at Austereo must be wondering about the truth of the maxim that even negative publicity is good for them. Austereo is undoubtedly hooked on this sort of controversy but it’s now getting out of hand. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to feel used when you call their marketing people in pursuit of the story.
A very slick PR team take your number and your email details when you phone and promise to keep you posted on any developments. You feel as if you’ve suddenly been recruited to the network’s marketing effort.
Paul Cashmere, writing this morning in Undercover.com.au, put it more succinctly, accusing the network of prostituting itself to a quick headline. “Austereo are sluts to a headline. This is a company that cannot bend over quick enough if it means higher ratings. That is why a puppet show like Kyle Sandilands is so important to them. Kyle Sandilands is their perfect call-girl.”
Peter Harvie wouldn’t respond to that criticism either, nor undercover’s assertion that suspending Sandilands is not the answer because the problem is “the immaturity that now controls the Austereo boardroom.”
Good riddance to Sandilands, he will be missed as much as the black plague was. What I find interesting in this dirty grubby episode is the attempt by Austereo’s Sydney General Manager, Jenny Parkes,to attempt to take the high ground of moral justification in programming. That is pathetic, there is a saying in management, from the PM down, the buck stops with me.Well Ms Parkes, guess what has stopped at your door? A bucketload of them. It should not just be the two disgraced presenters who get the ‘thanks but no thanks memo’. Parkes should also be booted out on her attempted rightous backside. Will the board have the spine to make an example of such inadequate managerial skills and responsibility? The answer is to be found as in ..Is Elvis Presley doing one night stands at the opera house?
who gives a bugger about the cane toads of the media? Even Fuel Watch is more productive than Toad Watch.
speaking of toads, we suffered Michael Jackson maudlin mania for what seems like months. Who cares if the Donald Friend of popcrap is dead or alive? Aren’t we all sick of the media staring up the bum of media whores?
Whew!
For a minute there, I read that headline and thought this was a really serious matter, imagining that Crikey had sacked *BEN* Sandilands. 🙂
A follow up to this situation, is that this excuse for a human being with no integrity or sense of decency has been axed from the new Australian Idol, which is due to start soon. My faith in humanity has been restored. I obviously wasn’t the only person who left my message with the radio station concerned. Well done! Power to the people! The message is getting through, that the majority of Australians believe, that trivialising sexual assault, on radio is repugnant, and the interogation of anyone’s sexual history, particularly a minor on radio is beyond disgusting. Progress is being made. Now, all I need to know is that the young woman’s mother is in therapy, and Rachel is receiving positive and nurturing counselling! Congratulations to those who’ve made these decisions.