‘Beyond the bounds of decency’: Kyle and Jackie trashed rules on sexual content
Comments made on the Kyle and Jackie O show have breached the decency standards of the commercial radio code of practice, according to the media watchdog.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that a June 7 broadcast, on ARN’s KIIS stations in Melbourne and Sydney, included explicit sexual content and content that included “sustained and vulgar graphic sexualised descriptions,” according to the ruling.
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin ruled the comments were offensive to “any reasonable person listening to the broadcast and were not in line with broader community standards,” and “went beyond the bounds of decency expected by the community and was done so deliberately and provocatively.”
(Kyle and Jackie O, Facebook)
She said: “Even having two program censors employed by the broadcaster in place following previous ACMA enforcement action, this has not stopped occurrences of unsuitable content going to air.”
The ACMA recently opened two further investigations into the show. Last November, O’Loughlin confirmed the show had received 59 complaints between July and November, 2024.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young attacked the watchdog for failing to act on the show, during a Senate hearing last November.
Hanson-Young slammed the show for “jokes about people being gay, jokes about one of the producer’s Asian housemate, jokes about dating men who are not quote ‘white’, jokes about the sexual and racial profiles of other journalists from other stations, divisive and violent language about women and sex, vulgar detail about sex acts, comments on air that refer to fellow hosts as being ‘annoying bitch’ and ‘ho’, jokes about overweight women and mental health, and of course, the final point there about a competition where they got female staff to record themselves urinating, and then the boys had to figure out whose bits were contributing to that urine”.
Last year, Craig Bruce — who worked with the duo during his time as head of content at Southern Cross Austereo — said he was “shocked” with the direction of the show on an episode of the Mumbrellacast.
“Do we have codes in Australia anymore?” he asked. “Where is ACMA?’ The show was pornographic, explicit, and in all the wrong places.”
The ACMA is considering enforcement action for the June 7 breach.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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Why has it taken ACMA 9 months to rule on 1 show, never mind all of the other complaints from 4-8 months ago. And even when they say it’s unacceptable, no punishment announced.
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This is disgusting and worse is to allow such disc ‘jockeys’ to continue in their role. Radio, even commercial radio, ought to uphold common decency. It shows their level of immaturity and intelligence and sets a horrible example for conversation standards and their own listeners. The right thing to do would be to take them off air, permanently, but will management be strong enough to do so? Greed and ratings will likely win over. Inflammatory, sexist and discriminatory gutter talk has no place in any society, let alone radio. Strong action needs to be taken by the ACMA otherwise why else does it exist?
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Congrats Melbourne, keep up your boycott. Smutty show, smutty presenters.
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“The ACMA is considering enforcement action”
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Love the show and yes they tell it as it is, it’s just the woke greens that complain that need to learn about real life outside of the city
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