Actually, Kyle. You’re the piece of shit
Kyle Sandilands’ two year grudge against a young female journalist shows he has not changed, argues Mumbrella’s Tim Burrowes
Imagine, you’re a young journo.
You work for one of the big publishers, but you’re no bigwig yourself.
You haven’t got a particularly high profile, and basically you just cover your beat.
You’re just like hundreds of other journos.
Until you cross Kyle Sandilands’ radar.
I refer, of course, to Alison Stephenson, who Kyle Sandilands again started up against over the weekend.
You may recall that back in November 2011, he targeted her in the most vicious possible way.
It came after she reported that his (shit) TV show Kyle & Jackie O’s Night With The Stars had been badly received on social media. Hours later, when the ratings came in, it turned out that few people had watched.
It was the sort of story that whichever journo was unfortunate to have assigned to them would have written. I still remember turning to social media to see what was being said – the show was that bad.
But Sandilands, as you may recall, focused on Stephenson, news.com.au’s deputy entertainment editor, with a nasty little blast:
“Some fat slag on news.com.au has already branded it a disaster. You can tell by reading the article that she just hates us and has always hated us.
“What a fat bitter thing you are. You’re deputy editor of an online thing. You’ve got a nothing job anyway. You’re a piece of shit.
“This low thing, Alison Stephenson, deputy editor of news.com.au online. You’re supposed to be impartial, you little troll.
“You’re a bullshit artist, girl. You should be fired from your job. Your hair’s very 90s. And your blouse. You haven’t got that much titty to be having that low cut a blouse. Watch your mouth or I’ll hunt you down.”
It led to advertisers withdrawing, and another slap for his employer the Today Network from watchdog the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Stephenson, though, never responded. To this day, she’s never written or spoken publicly about the experience. To do so, would have allowed her career to be defined by his comments.
And yet, this weekend, Sandilands came back for her. Perhaps he is bitter at the humiliation he brought down upon himself 21 months ago.
So he’s lied about her in a way that if he did it on air would have got the station’s licence suspended – if his producers hadn’t got to the infamous dump button first.
In order to publicise Australia’s Got Talent, he gave an interview to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend.
And he returned to the topic of Stephenson:
“That girl got hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was just easier to pay her to shut up and go away.”
Except, I understand, categorically this is untrue.
She kept quiet and tried to move on.
Yet Sandilands has painted her as money-grabbing. And let her colleagues think she won some kind of lottery. Good luck next time you ask for a pay rise with that hanging over your head.
It’s a scummy stunt to pull. And it’s hard to believe that it’s based on a misunderstanding. You’d probably know one way or another if you’d made that sort of payout.
Sandilands’ employer Southern Cross Austereo referred my questions to Sandilands’ personal management, who have not responded.
This is an unequal battle. She’s a 27-year-old in a junior role who doesn’t want to be in this fight.
This has now gone from a temper tantrum to bullying.
Tim Burrowes
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Kyle is a glittery sack of shit.
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If what you say is true, and Alison Stephenson did not, in fact, receive “hundreds of thousands of dollars”, I would suggest the comment is likely to bring her into disrepute in the eyes of her peers and that Mr Sandilands would have a bona fide case of defamation to answer for.
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Did you also forward questions on to the Good Weekend, like asking Ben Naparstek his views on fact checking articles he publishes?
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Seen Kyle lately? He’s turning into Cartman
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Bring in the defamation lawyers, and send the bogan back to the streets. Maybe she can use his Phantom.
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Kyle calling someone else fat???? BAHAHAHAHAHA…now I have heard everything! POT, KETTLE BLACK Fat boy!
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Kyle Sandilands, talentless vulgarian. I assume the Good Weekend profile was just them trying oh-so hard to demonstrate their ‘irony’ bona fides. Surely the average GW reader would be happy to see the guy drive off into the sunset in one of his nouveau Royces.
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i didnt know Kyle was still around, is he still on the radio and that? Thought I saw him pulling beers at the Gosford RSL?
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Help me understand. What kind of person listens to him? And are there really that many of those in this country?…
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Is this news because Australia’s got talent starts on Sunday? Why is he on the front page of a magazine. We cant criticise him when it is the media who go after h im. Forget that he is news( he isnt)
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and good on you Tim.
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It’s horrible that we continue to let him be part of the media landscape in this country.
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And, if the claim is incorrect, where where the editors and factcheckers on that? Kyle is a persona, he does his job well – and that job includes pretending to be mean and nasty occasionally to create controversy. Every time you write a story like this his ratings go up.
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You’re a good man Tim Burrowes
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Should GW have verified this claim before publishing?
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Speechless as to how Kyle even remains in the job he is in, he is disrespectful to say the least.. and the comments he made about someone else being FAT when he is the way he is almost made me choke from laughter.
He is nothing more than a spoilt bully that needs to be knocked of his perch!
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Why did they have to interview Kyle in the first place? Couldn’t they have interviewed one of the other judges, who probably would have had more interesting things to say? How come he has nine lives in the entertainment industry? Wish Kyle would just go away.
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The word bully is thrown around so much lately when it isn’t deserved. I find calling someone a bully when they’re not … BULLYING!! The media needs to stop bullying Kyle. Just don’t listen to him of you don’t like him & let him get on with his job in peace. It’s hilarious people think he is so repulsive. You obviously don’t listen to him otherwise you would not has such an un informed opinion!
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Firstly, this “young 27 year old girl” made these comments in the first place, Kyle was defending himself and he has every right too. Any article, comments that are posted have the right to be scrutinised.
While what he said was harsh, most comments towards him are completely bias because most people don’t like the guy, so of course it’s going to be the worst thing in the world Kyle has said.
So this article is completely bias.
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We continue to let him be part of the media landscape because articles keep on being written. Cut off the oxygen supply, take a stance, ignore him and do not write about him.
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its embarrassing that he’s the Australian representative in what are increasingly international talent filled judging panels. What must the others think, he’s the best we can do! Annoyingly he’s popular, which is very sad in itself.
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Good on you Tim! He is a bullish coward who doesn’t deserve our time or ratings. Wake up Australia and turn him off!
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Why is Good Weekend even giving him the column space, let alone the cover story? That doesn’t make for a good weekend at all. Surely there are way more interesting Australians to read about. Bottom of the barrel.
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I want to see him take on Mumbrella. That would be a fun fight to watch. And comment on.
Take it to him, Tim!
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Trouble is, as we give people like this oxygen and resort to name calling ourselves, it drags it down to their level and is therefore not actually becoming. Folk like this exist on the spotlight being on them. Just take the fuse out.
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When I read this on Saturday I thought – what was Fairfax thinking? Do we care if he has three Rolls Royces? Do we buy the “poor little me” approach? Like that other bully KRudd, it would be great if by they were both consigned to the scrap heap by the end of 2013. Well, maybe..
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S. are you for real? And the word is “biased”.
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The man makes my blood boil. He symbolises EVERYTHING that is wrong with the world. Gen Y’s old fogey version of Alan Jones. …however, am I just as bad leaving this comment??!
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Perhaps he is thinking of one of the teenagers he strapped to a lie detector? it must be hard for him to keep track.
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I feel bad for the hard working ad execs who’s client portfolio takes a hit when ever he opens his mouth and clients stop advertising at the network.
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Well said S…
There is nothing new in this column or these comments. Just an excuse for Kyle bashing.
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Aaron W you are an Ad Exec, no on else ever brings up Ad Execs:)
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More annoyed that Fairfax run this shit
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I consider myself an ‘average GW reader’. Sadly upon seeing ‘that man’ on the cover of my favourite weekend newspaper magazine I felt a little sick and couldn’t even open it – lift your game GW
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Alison has shown herself to be tough, classy, and professional throughout the whole ordeal, and it’s a shame he’s chosen to bring it all up again.
S you should probably read her original article and then decide whether you still think Kyle threatening to “hunt her down” is an appropriate response.
The payout claim is laughable.
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Ah, an interview with Sandilands. No humans involved then.
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Good article Tim – I purposely did not read the article as I preferred not to give him any more air and wonder why Fairfax was trying to rehabilitate him.
Don’t listen, don’t watch and don’t read and his saleability will diminish and so will lose his role.
In the meanwhile, it is good to have people like you standing up for the woman who is being bullied and disparaged.
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is this nasty man still using up good oxygen i could use for farting?
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Hang on, are you not being as bad a Kyle?
Poor taste.
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Kyle Sandilands is a virus, a virus that feeds on publicity. He needs to be starved of it, so he can slither back to the enormous rock he cralled out from under.
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He doesn’t seem like a very nice person.
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Tony Bee, thank you for correcting my spelling.
I am honestly just sick of articles like this. I’m definitely not arguing Kyle is a great guy, but this article is just bashful and is pretty much doing the same thing Kyle got in trouble for doing in the first place !
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Haha, Kyle groupies…
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Good on you for calling this out Tim. I actually was shocked to see him on my GW and horrified the SMH was feeding him publicity. However, I’m continually surprised that people focus on the ‘fat’ comment (although it is rich coming from him) – I’m far more concerned that very few people pulled him up on his threat of physical violence – “Watch your mouth or I’ll hunt you down”. This to me is seriously scary. Women do get hunted down eg ABC journalist in Melb, it’s not a laughing matter, yet Kyle can say this and no one seems to comment. Listen to the tone of violence in this sentence, the degrading of her personally and the threat of physical violence – sickening… shame on you SMH. “You’re a bullshit artist, girl. You should be fired from your job. Your hair’s very 90s. And your blouse. You haven’t got that much titty to be having that low cut a blouse. Watch your mouth or I’ll hunt you down.”
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Sandilands came across as a major dickwad in that article. He’s the fat slag ..except he’s not a slag because, as he told everyone, he has a low sex drive. So, he’s just fat. And he’s on his way out because he’s yesterday’s news.
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The ‘innocent’ young journo wrote a misleading piece trashing the show before any numbers were available. It was a news.com.au hatchet job. Kyle went over the top (to say the least), but if you play with fire, you will get your fingers burnt. She started it, so can’t suddenly pretend to be whiter than white.
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Unfortunately Kyle is just another symptom of the disgrace that is the media in this country.
Who would watch Australia’s got talent with him at the helm?
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Infamy often gets confused with fame.
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The best excuse for Kyle-bashing is Kyle himself. What a vile little misogynistic bully he is. Eventually his dickishness is going to create too much of a drag on his inexplicable popularity and he’ll become commercial poison. He will not be missed.
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You left our what she originally said about Kyle. Conveniently, perhaps?
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While Kyle’s comments on this matter (and many other matters) are completely out of line, I did think the original review was far more subjective than it should have been. It wasn’t just a summary of how poorly it was received on social media, it was a snide attack on the show itself.
Kyle is so much in the wrong here, but it would be completely inaccurate to suggest that he cop 100% of the blame for this situation. She should not have written what she did.
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Well done Tim running this. Kyle gets away with too much. There’s something seriously wrong in our media this man keeps getting jobs. If I said what he said in my workplace quite rightly I’d be walked.
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Nicole Webb Luke and others who say”good in you Tim ” – good on Tim for what? He just wrote a long article on Kyle thereby giving him more space rather than ignoring him completely . Tim are you in fact aiding and abetting given that AGT is back on Sunday. Else why drag up that story again . It is old news done and dusted.move on. Kate has given birth so we are not waiting for the birth anymore we have moved on. My back is sore have to lie on the floor and do some exercises now
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Don’t forget that the attack on Ms Stephenson was just one in a catalogue of ugly, unbecoming, unkind and threatening things that he has done in the public eye.
He makes a profession out of belittling and insulting people – it doesn’t matter if its for show or real: I don’t think he can tell the difference any more. I certainly can’t.
He’s a symptom of a sick society. Let’s cure ourselves of this particular malady, and squeeze the nasty little zit.
MH
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Is it just me or can everyone notice that the Kyle supporters in the comments section have no grasp of grammar or spelling!
I suppose a joke can be made about the level of intellect one must have to like this guy, but it just makes me sad… too sad to joke about it.
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I like Kyle, he’s honest and says what he thinks, wouldn’t life be better if we were all honest. Go Kyle Go, you do the bogans proud.
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This man deserves everything coming his way. He disgusts me, and I’m no prude. Everything I detest in a person is part of Sandilands DNA.
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Sandliands is proof that talent isn’t a prerequisite for fame anymore, though positioning always has been (whether good or bad).
We’d all be better off describing him as talented, witty, good humoured, etc. He obviously thrive and energises on the fact he’s so reviled (and the story in GW supports it). It’s his position and self-appointed role to be hated.
Stand for something or stand for nothing though we’re all keeping him kicking, unfortunately. If he thought we all loved him, he’d probably go away.
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Dear God your so annoyingly holier than thou. Basically you’ve been waiting all year to pounce on Kyle again (one man against a mob makes an easy target) – finally someone leads him into a trap and out you come re-dredging old news, fleecing every sanctimonious morsel out of last year’s rant. Whether you like it or not, Kyle is a success in this country. He’s a breath of fresh air, he speaks his mind. It’s not always pretty…he’s the first to say he’s not well educated and shoots from the hip. Most people put their best face to the world and keep the crap buried. Kyle’s the opposite – his exterior is gruff, he’s short tempered and snarky but underneath he’s a kind, generous person. He’s also a sensitive one who takes criticism badly (which is how this whole thing started). I’d have more respect for journos who took the time to understand him rather than jumping on a pretty tired old bandwagon. Like it or not guys, Kyle Sandilands is interesting.
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Unbelievable……..i love how this mouthbreathing misogynistic moron decides to go for what really hurts a woman her figure and the size of her tits when criticising her journalistic style. (ironically he must see his ample waist and titties as far superior!) Followed by actually threatening her, and he is a bastion of Australian culture……for shame.
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Tim, looks like an IP check is in order for some of these commenters. Surely the only media people stupid enough to defend him are junior Austereo employees
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It was an uncharacteristically weak piece by Stephanie Wood which should never have made the front cover of GW. A few (unresearched) tabloid snippets woven through a dull interview with a dickhead.
What on earth was Ben Naparstek thinking?
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It’s sad in Australia that we have the tall poppy syndrome, haven’t we all said or done something we regretted in the heat of the moment? If the above bother to read the article they would have learnt something. He actually has grown up a lot and matured. Try being on radio everyday where you are talking for hours on end without saying something that doesn’t offend someone.
I think it’s time we all grew up and give the man a break or better still turn him off if you don’t want to hear what he has to say. Some of us actually enjoy listening to his positivity every day!
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I look forward to Tim’s analysis of the IP addresses of the pro Kyle comments. Whatever she wrote about the show was accurate. It was diabolical. And was pulled pretty quickly.
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#42 @S, ‘bashful’ doesn’t mean what you think it does! And Tim, I would also be interested in an IP address name and shame for these apologists for a nasty piece of work who is unfortunately enabled in his antics by his employer.
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Tim – can we IP check all these pro-Kyle comments please? The writing is very similar in all of them.
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Sadly talent has never been a prerequisite for fame, but at least there was a time when diplomacy and good manners were considered essential and certainly ahead of publicity or sensationalism.
A “bad boy” image may be of passing interest, but the moral deserts, or sandy lands of vulgarity, are profoundly ugly places.
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What’s this abt checking IP addresses. It is not unlawful to post under different accounts. Tim started this whole thing with this stupid article. More publicity for AGT.
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Wow he surely gets a reaction.
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No need to check IP addresses to identify the apologists for this steaming pile; they are the ones with spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes and other signs of ignorance.
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Haha, I think ‘glittery sack of shit’ sums it up. He never surprises in his lack of class and maturity. What’s sad is enough people love him to keep him on air! I’m guessing its the same people who watch today tonight and big brother, rest my case!
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Only in Sydney….Sandilands, Jones, Hadley. Who the hell listens to these vindictive, egocentrics jerks.
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Nardil have you listened to breakfast radio in Melbourne . Two buffoons called Ross and John. One kept saying koala bears this morning at 5.35am. A listener rang to correct him and he was disputing. Said hd has been saying koala bear all his life which is over 59 years at least. This guys top the ratings every survey. The show starts with one being dumb and the other explaining things to him. Why don’t they do it offline?
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hey Sally- did you enjoy watching Celebrity Splash?that was a great tv just like kyle is great radio
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Levi, I can supply you the names of 25 announcers who dont offend anyone just off the top of my head. Since when is offensive comments part of entertainment?
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Did people watch Media Watch on 22 July, in which Paul Barry examined the morphing of PR into news. Seems we are in an era of advertisers being in a strong position to “negotiate” free editorial disguised as “news”. I am sure this GW article is all part of the PR plan for Australia’s Got Talent. All quite depressing actually. Here’s the Media Watch link: http://www.abc.net.au/mediawat.....808548.htm
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It still amazes me any company would want to employ Kyle, and why would any company place advertising dollars anywhere near him. It seems Channel 9 is still the old boys network.
All that nasty, personal, verbal abuse … Kyle needs to stop ‘projecting’ so much.
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A bit harsh Tim “Kyle. You’re the piece of shit”
A piece of shit once served a useful purpose and as a result became what it is today, Kyle on the other hand….
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Well this is proof of the pudding above
like him or NOT he DOES stimulate debate, discussion and hopefully some forward thinking and self evaluation
77 comments plus speaks for itself
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Funnily enough off camera he’s a nice guy. Clearly has more hang ups than a texas steak roadhouse jerky drying room but you know *yawn* the shit that comes out of his mouth on a consistent basis. AAAAH hmm. The kid ain’t doing himself ANY favours.
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Gee, I wonder how the British judges feel about working alongside a man who can call any woman a “piece of shit” and a “fat slag” with a “nothing job” etc etc — The ratings might be good, but the show and the ratings would be much better without such a horrible person as any kind of talent or role model.
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What continues to surprise me is that there are so many people in Sydey who have such a lack of intelligence and class that they actually listen to this buffoon and his show rates as well as it does. What is wrong with you people?
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Most of you make me laugh. Listen to yourselves. You have the hide to tear him down about some comments he made to a journalist when she started it yet your own comments are worse. He is what he is, like it or lump it. No one here has to listen to him or in fact read about him. Yes, he is crude and has bad taste in cars however he makes ratings, tells it as it is and has a large portion of Aussies liking him. Personally I think you should all get on with improving your own lives instead of bagging others including Kyle. Bottom line. GROW UP…
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I really dislike Kyle personally, and he has more then enough to his name to justify sacking.
With that, there are a few things that need to be said.
Firstly, what/who are your sources that no money has been paid to Ali Stephenson. Without those, or at least some indication of where they come from, your claims are not reliable.
Secondly, a 27 year old is not a child. Even at age 24/25 when the first even occurred she was a fully grown adult. If she feels that she has been mistreated or bullied, she is more than capable of standing up for herself.
Finally, she really needs to do that this time. She needs to publicly deny that she has taken hush money, or her silence in itself adds credibility to Kyle’s claims. She needs to stand up for herself.
Kyle’s comments on her personality and appearance are disgraceful. That doesn’t mean he is lying about this element though.
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Reading your comment, there are two attacks on this article that are annoying me.
1) Saying Tim’s article is just giving Kyle more air time. Articles like this need to be written otherwise people would never know the truth about Kyle and would never actively stop listening to him. Sure, plenty of people dislike him because of the personality he has to portray on his radio show but if people don’t know what kind of person he really is outside of his show (and it is a show) then how do you guys think this is going to stop?
2) Saying Kyle has a right to defend himself against the comments Alison made against him in the first place and Tim’s attacks on Kyle in this article make him just as bad as Kyle. Hello guys! There is a huge difference between attacking a person and criticising the actions taken by a person. Maybe, as some of you are saying, Alison’s original article was out of line as it was far more subjective than was required but did she ever attack Kyle as a person? She certainly didn’t threaten him! Yes, Kyle had a right to respond to these comments but to these comments alone. He was way out of line. He should have called her on the mistakes she made and NEVER started on her physical appearance! For goodness sake, how immature! And threatening! He should have been fired on the spot! We all make mistakes and maybe he did but to bring it up again? And lying? This wasn’t a mistake, he is a bully in the true sense of the word and not “thrown around loosely” as some of you suggest. Finally, on this point, some of you are saying that Tim is just as bad “attacking” Kyle but again, where are the personal attacks against him? He didn’t even feel the need to make the fat comment. Tim is just calling him out on what he’s done and criticising the actions he’s taken.
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I’d say that Kyle has won again. 86-nil and counting. But it’s like to use David Bowie’s words Putting out The Fire with Gasoline. You need to douse it down but in order to do that we need to fuel the fire to say how much we dislike this guy. Yet here he is still making 250k a year. Till everyone who fills in diary denies listening to him he will still be on air. He is the judge we love to hate. so until all the people meter users switch over he is still going to be on our screens. The power is in the ratings.
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No, we should not turn our backs on ignorant pigs like this. Our silence implies consent. We need to speak out against this kind of misogyny whenever and wherever we can. People like Kyle need to learn it’s no longer acceptable behaviour.
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If this was the UK he would not be on the air full stop. The comment he made to the girl on his breakfast show before all this was beyond comprehension.
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I can’t say I read her original piece. Did ‘she’ really start it, did she criticize the show before the numbers came in?
Well, curious, I searched for her original article and found the substance here http://goo.gl/ya0ple
By my read, she reviewed and criticised (the thing that critics are payed to to do) and came up with an objective article. Nothing more, nothing less. Clearly she didn’t like it – that’s something else critics sometimes do.
Two reasons Kyle matters to me:
I subscribe to GoodWeekend. Having him as the cover story diminishes GW’s credibility.
As the season drags on, there is a chance I might watch AGT, however, as long as Sandilands is a judge, I won’t watch it.
PS. Is that a definition of irony – having a talentless judge judging talent? If he was judging script/advertising/playlist reading, then he’d be a possibility as a judge.
PPS. If that’s a picture of Alison Stephenson in the article then Sandilands needs to look up the definition of fat. Furthermore, she doesn’t look like the sort of person who could be considered bitter or a troll but then, neither does Jackie and yet look who she hangs out with.
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Kyle Sandilands is an obnoxious, disgusting embarrassment who should be ignored, not employed. No talent other than self promotion through antics that should be reviled by every decent Australian
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On the flip side, every time the paper runs an article talking about what an arsehole Sandilands is could also be classified as bullying, since its fairly non stop. Papers also constantly make up stories about people being paid off the the hundreds of thousands of dollar amounts. Usually when they are upset that a celebrity did a story with a magazine instead of the paper. Celeb may have received a small sum, say $2000 and the paper will say said celeb got paid $200,000 dollars.
But hey, papers are the only “true” source of journalism right?
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Alison Stephenson’s story said that Kyle’s show had been poorly received on social media.
She was not making a criticism, she was stating a fact.
A fact is not just a fact when it is relates to a positive outcome. It covers the good and the bad.
Many readers don’t understand this.
If I wrote a story that included the fact: ”There were 50 police on duty rather than the usual 100 because of the public holiday”, there’d still be some grammar-poor person accusing me of having a go at police…
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