Female staff members reportedly walk out of Seven town hall during Mariah Carey Christmas dance
Female staff members at Seven network have reportedly walked out of a town hall meeting as “Sexy Santa” dancers performed a routine in front of the team.
As originally reported by the Australian Financial Review, four dancers came out in front of the town hall last week being led by Seven Perth news director, Ray Kuka, to perform a routine to Mariah Carey’s holiday hit, All I Want for Christmas, in anticipation of the upcoming Alinta Energy Christmas Pageant.
While a Seven spokesperson has since dubbed the pageant a “Perth institution”, TV Tonight has since reported that the performance was met by female staffers walking out of the town hall.
An anonymous source who was reportedly in the town hall said: “It’s the contrast. Four men talking about business, then four women come in, dolled up and scantily clad. What is the role of women at this company?”
The move comes in the wake of ABC’s Four Corners investigation into Seven, which revealed a toxic workplace culture, characterised by bullying, sexism, and harassment, particularly towards women.
Speaking to Mumbrella following the broadcast, reporter Louise Milligan said the investigation included talking to over 200 current and former Seven staff members.
“We are aware of many more situations in which there have been multiple complaints about a particular member of staff — and all of the ones we know about happen to be reasonably senior men — where people complain, and they complain to management, they complain to human resources, you know, they make formal complaints, they make informal complaints,” she said.
“In some cases, there are numerous complainants and either nothing happens; in some cases, the person was promoted.”
Meanwhile, Josh Bornstein, the principal lawyer at Maurice Blackburn who appeared on the Four Corners episode, told Mumbrella that the issues are not exclusive to Seven, and are instead an “industry-wide issue”.
“I think social change, political change, is a constant struggle,” he said.
“And I think we have made positive changes, in the last seven-to-ten years, particularly. But it’s apparent from this industry that the struggle never ends. You know, this is still, going back in other industries, 30 or 40 years. So it never ends.”
Keep up to date with the latest in media and marketing
Got a tip?
Neil Griffiths is the Managing Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
Linkedin
topics
Four Corners
Josh Bornstein
Louise Milligan
Seven
Seven Four Corners
Seven Mariah Carey
Seven Network
The four scantily dancing women says it all regarding the boof heads of the 1950’s style Ch 7 management.
User ID not verified.
Seven walk headfirst into these issues because they are a tone-deaf organisation run by tone-deaf men. But it’s not a Seven-exclusive issue.
It’s a media industry issue – across both sides of the Tasman.
User ID not verified.
The gift that keeps on giving.
User ID not verified.
Can someone please just shut that place down
User ID not verified.
7 is a trainwreck! Maybe advertisers will choose to talk by not spending with the network – or will they???????????
User ID not verified.
Unbelievable in this century.
User ID not verified.
Wow, as a Woman, I’m offended by women who are offended by this! Some Women are dancers and have beautiful bodies, so why not let them flaunt it in scantily clad clothing! Some of you “women” really need to get a life if this offends you!!! You are the true embarrassment to real Women everywhere!
User ID not verified.
wow i love how im going to be stepping into a workforce where my only value as a woman is how attractive and obedient i am!!!! (sarcasm)
User ID not verified.
That’s showbiz
User ID not verified.
Having worked in television as crew for 43 years,,it has changed for the better, but slowly, the real problem is how useless the hr department is.
User ID not verified.
Have your say