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Sandilands taken off air again following concentration camp comment

Kyle Sandilands’ radio career is hanging in the balance after today being suspended by Austereo for comments he made yesterday about the comedian Magda Szubanski losing weight in a concentration camp.

In a short statement from 2Day FM general manager Adam Lang, the company said:

“2Day FM has suspended Kyle Sandilands following comments he made during The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Tuesday 8 September, 2009. The suspension will be in effect pending further discussions involving Kyle Sandilands and station management.

“2Day FM believes the comments made by Kyle were unacceptable and sincerely apologises and regrets any offence they caused.”

The decision by Austereo comes just three weeks after the Kyle & Jackie O show returned to the airwaves following a disastrous lie detector segment. While the pair quizzed a 14 year old girl about her sexual experiences she blurted out that she had been raped.

Is Sandilands’ live broadcasting career over?

September 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm

Comments

Bearit
9 Sep 09
12:18 pm

You’d think he would have figured it out by now.

AW
9 Sep 09
12:19 pm

hmmm… maybe management are looking for a reason to sack him? (A girl can dream a little, can’t she?)

I just can’t see any large advertiser wanting to be associated with him.

Gossip Girl
9 Sep 09
12:22 pm

Enough is enough!
There’s only so much ‘shock’ this jock can hand out before listeners will start switching over.

Comments about rape and concentration camps are not funny nor entertaining.

How many times will he be able to make an inappropriate comment and then apologise for it the next day?

It’s time to go….Kyle.

Fleur
9 Sep 09
12:30 pm

I think Kyle should take some gardening leave and head for Jenny Craig himself

Cheryl Gledhill
9 Sep 09
12:35 pm

Ah the beautiful irony of the man who proclaims to drink 8 litres of coke and 20 lattes a day calling someone else fat.

I wonder if he owns a mirror?

David@ luvyawork
9 Sep 09
12:38 pm

Kylie Sandilands reminds me of Pavlov’s Dog.

Put him in front of a crowd and he dribbles. Just can’t help it, that’s the way’s his brain’s wired.

Sulk away Kyle, leaving all the excuses you can get your mouth around, but sulk away.

Andy
9 Sep 09
12:49 pm

Didn’t Pavlovs dog dribble at the sight of food?…….bit like Sandilands

Rowena
9 Sep 09
1:00 pm

I think Kyle has it figured it out. It’s more like havent 2Day FM figured it out? As in, no, a shock jock wont improve ratings and no, the public won’t keep allowing them to apologise?

Adam
9 Sep 09
1:07 pm

Kyle will be lapping this up. Anyone heard that bad pr can be a great thing?

Kyle could be marketed over in the USA: “The DJ that was thrown out of Australia.”

Kyle might set up a show on radio or TV in the USA and have a following of dense, materialistic, numbskull beings, loving every word that comes out of his boring mouth…

Parts of society are tragic and Kyle fits into that market place. Delivering his profanities and unfunny drivel to the brain dead and hopeless…

David@luvyawork
9 Sep 09
1:10 pm

@Andy,

Ha! Yup, he did; food and a metronome (which, if you know the theory, is the conditioned stimulus).

Point is, when presented with the stimulus (a radio mic & a crowd to hear) poor little Kyle enters into a conditioned response i.e. he dribbles inane trash.

Seems Kyle lacks the complex structure that allows most humans to counter classical conditioning in this context.

Either that, or he likes being a tool.

Andy M
9 Sep 09
1:20 pm

Adam, yep The Holocast and child rape. Two sure fire ways to land a show in America. Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrtttttttttttt. (Said in A Borat like voice.)

Sam
9 Sep 09
1:31 pm

He really is just a talentless waste-of-space. Anyone can be abusive – that’s easy – being witty and interesting is slightly more difficult and unfortunately it’s just something Kyle hasn’t seemed to have mastered.

Paddy
9 Sep 09
1:39 pm

The United States of Kyle

Matt
9 Sep 09
1:40 pm

The main problem I have with this latest incident (someone actually called it a ’scandal’ today) is that people are only making a fuss about the comments because it is Sandilands behind them. The strange thing is, without defending Kyle… he’s not in the wrong in this situation and is completely entitled to share his opinion. His opinion was neither defamatory nor racially motivated, so I fail to see how he is worse this time than any number of mainstream comedians that make fat jokes, or Jew jokes, or fat Jew jokes.

Let’s make things clear – this is not comparable to the sexualisation of a 14 year old girl. This is an offhand comment about an overweight woman struggling with her weight, with a poorly conceived reference to the holocaust.

As big of a douche as he is, Sandilands does not deserve the disproportionate backlash that he has received and although Australia does not have any explicit legal protection of free speech, that protection is implied. It’s the same implied protection that allows every Australian that has ever posted on the twitter hashtag #SandilandsIsADouche to continue to do so.

Perhaps we should get into that good old American tradition of shooting people that we disagree with.

David@luvyawork
9 Sep 09
1:52 pm

@Matt.

You’re right, everyone is entitled to their opinion, though I think you’ve missed the point.

Yes, you’re right. The heat is on Kyle, but only through his own doing. Because of this, and assuming he wants to keep his job, he is obliged to be more careful with what comes out of his mouth. From that point of view, he’s an underperforming employee and if he continues to bring disrepute on the brand, then he should go.

You’re also right that this is not the same as the previously most recent incident. My opinion is entirely in the context of his own attitude (or lack thereof) to his audience, environment, advertisers and his employer. Yes, there are plenty of fat jokes, and jew jokes, and fat jew jokes. Whether the subjects of those feel defamed by any other comedians (and I’m pretty sure you weren’t branding Kyle a comedian by that reference) is irrelevant.

What matters here most is the context, at which Kyle is the centre having built it up all on his own. As you said, a poorly conceived reference to the holocaust, in this context, is going way too far past the point of no repercussion, in my opinion.

Tony Richardson
9 Sep 09
2:37 pm

Why do I get the uneasy feeling that this is all part of his evil plan.

Many years ago, didn’t people falsely put ‘Banned in Boston’ on books or records to dial up the edgy factor, and sell more stuff?

Does being thrown off air in Australia help Kyle’s cred overseas?

I hope not.

ShirleyInOz
9 Sep 09
2:37 pm

Morning radio, what can I say?
Jonsey and Amanda all the way!
If you want fun entertainment that is not risque
It’s Jonsey and Amanda all the way

C K Cash
9 Sep 09
2:37 pm

Was pretty easy to work out that something like that would happen due to his latest verbal sludge…Magda is a much loved celeb so he painted a big target on himself when he dribbled out those words…

annika rice
9 Sep 09
2:37 pm

Jew joke? Szubanski is of Polish origin. Millions of Poles were killed in concentration camps (and not all were Jewish). Thus the idiotic insult of Kyle’s.

tristan
9 Sep 09
2:42 pm

sooooooooooooo stupid. we cannot only back freedom of speech when it suits us. on top of that, i missed the 14 tear old rape victim segment, but our national news programming were kind enough to play it to me at least 5 times since the incident. and now the possibly offensive statement about concentration camps is reaching more poeple than it initially would have. yes – i am shooting the messenger.

Sal
9 Sep 09
2:47 pm

What about Kochie this morning on Sunrise referring to Yoko Ono as a witch!

David G
9 Sep 09
2:50 pm

Leaving aside the issues as to Kyle’s competence (or not), surely the real issue here is for Austereo – after the last Kyle episode and their internal review they said they were putting a delay on the K&JO Show (like in all other radio) to avoid just this sort of problem. Whoever had their finger on that button yesterday was asleep at the wheel, and that raises the question of whether Austereo is a fit and proper person to continue to hold a radio licence. Kyle is a clown, but for AEO this has far deeper implications IMHO.

C K Cash
9 Sep 09
2:56 pm

Kochie is a tool also…maybe he needs to be “suspended” also. Get Paul McCarthy who does the impersonation of him on Double Take to be the host..he is a least funnier than the real thing!

dave
9 Sep 09
4:01 pm

seriously if it wasn’t for the rape drama, doubt this would have created much ferver at all. jokes like this appear daily on commercial waves.

paul
9 Sep 09
4:21 pm

andrew Gee and Danni minogue will be joining Jackie O on air tomorrow morning until further notice…

David Jackmanson
9 Sep 09
4:22 pm

“As big of a douche as he is, Sandilands does not deserve the disproportionate backlash that he has received…”

Meh, you’re probably right, but I’m not going to cry for him.

“…and although Australia does not have any explicit legal protection of free speech, that protection is implied.”

Even if Australia *had* an explicit right similar to the First Amendment of the US Constitution, that would not do anything to stop Austereo sacking Sandilands (if that is what they want to do).

That Amendment only stops the US Congress passing any law “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”. It doesn’t give any legal rights to anyone who might get sacked for making stupid comments in the course of his employment.

Also, the implicit Australian protection of free speech only applies to political speech.

paul
9 Sep 09
4:22 pm

just wondering why the producer didn’t kill the segment. He/she seems to be the one who is getting off scott free as well

sophie
9 Sep 09
4:32 pm

Gahhhh I am just so over all this rubbish and outrage about every daft comment Sandilands makes. May as well all just listen to Classic FM and not be offended by anything. I agree with dave also… all this furore is just making a massive issue out of something that is basically not even worth reporting…clearly a very slow news day… and by the way I am of jewish origin and just so totally not offended by this because it’s all just ridiculous waste of everyone’s time and I’m sure was said with irony as he knows he’s a fat bastard…

Stevie P
9 Sep 09
4:32 pm

From what I can see, Mr. Sandilands despite being a loose cannon dick head, could use a few months on Lite & Easy himself. He is pretty round, smooth and soft himself – shouldnt have said anything about anyone elses weight challenges in the first place.

C K Cash
9 Sep 09
4:34 pm

If it’s true…wouldn’t Andrew G and Danni Minogue worse to listen to than Kyle and Jackie O?

Helen
9 Sep 09
4:38 pm

@ Sal – Nothing offensive at all about what Kochie said this morning.
Yuko Ono IS a witch!

TonyMacaroni
9 Sep 09
5:04 pm

Everyone is entitled to an opinion…FACT.

When you have the opportunity to air your opinion to a mass audience, you need to be aware of the people you may potentially be offending and discuss your opinion with a decency and respect to others…

This latest episode just goes to show that “Vile” is indeed a stupid, brainless turd that simply cannot stop his mouth from spilling out rude, ignorant, disgusting bile.

I don’t want to waste my time and energy on this type of cretin, but unless we, as the general public, stand up to this then he is not going to go away.

Anonymous
9 Sep 09
5:42 pm

@ Stevie P

Hang on a minute… are you an employee of Trusted Avatar and is Lite N Easy your client?

AW
9 Sep 09
5:43 pm

That comment @ Stevie P was me – I just forgot to put my name in before I hit return!

Annika Rice
9 Sep 09
9:02 pm

The freedom of speech argument has one major flaw: it is grossly and disproportionately represented by the voice of the over confident anglo larrikin male. Nothing wrong with this per say until someone like Kyle is given the speaking stick and doesn’t have the respect to use this privilege for good not evil (he is such an idiot I can’t believe I am wasting wonderful epiphanies like this on him).

As if that 14 year old girl (or any 14 year old) has the same freedom of speech he does. She’s begging never to be heard again. Makes you wonder how ‘freedom’ is defined? Feeling ashamed & being too young limits your freedom of speech.

He reminds me of a western s3x tourist going to a less developed country or Letterio “that dog ruined my holiday” Silvestri: an over representation of someone using their freedom (generally) to embarrass humanity.