Helen Pringle in On Line Opinion
Kyle Sandilands has received a trouncing over the last few days for being rude and offensive. But criticisms of his behaviour on the grounds of offensiveness miss the mark in regard to the latest incident involving him and his chef de claque. Sandilands certainly takes delight in trying to give offence, although when called out, he excuses himself by saying that he is just doin’ what comes naturally. But giving offence is not the same as practising discrimination, and that is what should be the focus in the current controversy.
Various corporations have withdrawn their advertising from Sandilands’ program on 2Day FM. This is likely to have the same effect as the last time they withdrew their advertising in 2009. At that time, Sandilands was taken off air by the umbrella company Austereo, which announced that it was conducting ‘a review of the principals [sic] and protocols of our interaction with our audience’. Review concluded, Sandilands and Jackie O simply picked up where they had left off, and the advertisers returned.
Along with his old tricks, Sandilands resumed making his tired old excuses. In response to criticism of his recent intimidation of Alison Stephenson, for example, Sandilands fell back on the well-worn cliché with which many Australians defend or excuse racist and sexist behaviour. Read more
See also: ‘Why does this man still have a job?’
3 Responses
Yes indeed. There is a HUGE difference between offence and damage. It’s unendingly frustrating that the two are near on constantly conflated.
Its quite ironic that the more attention that is given to Mr Sandilands (for whatever reason), the more he remains in the limelight. And isnt this exactly what he craves? There is nothing worse for a so-called celebrity than to be totally irrelevant. So if you really want to stop Mr Sandilands, you just turn off the radio, change the channel, make him person non-grata where it really hurts him – his ego and his wallet. There is no use debating his behaviour, quoting legislation, calling him names, taking the moral high ground, whatever – all you are doing is feeding the media monster, and increasing his money earning potential. Geez, just by taking the time to make a comment on this matter, I am keeping the man up there where he thinks he belongs. He is part of the world we have created and continue to crave. So even if he goes down, there will always be someone else to fill his shoes, someone else ready and willing to do whetever it takes to be famous for all the wrong reasons. So I say, ignore the schlock jock and let nature take its course. Now if only you could convince his audience to do the same …
Quite correct Guitarman.
I say, “Shame on Southern Cross Austereo and their advertisers for profiting from the misery of #VileKyle ‘s victims.”