How Kyle Sandilands was humbled by Twitter

Finally, a good news story.

(Though you didn’t follow Colvinius? Scandal. And quoting Chopper is a bit weird but we’ll let you get away with it.)

The real story should be the sponsors who supported Kyle up until today. His behaviour is nothing new. You could argue that he is pretty darn consistent actually. The sponsors are dumping Kyle Sandilands for acting exactly how Kyle Sandilands acts.

Those three brands were only too happy to ride the attention wave of a shock jock until the heat got to be a little too much, and then they try to claim the moral high ground by withdrawing.

They say they “don’t condone the recent actions of Kyle Sandilands” but by sponsoring him at all they’ve condoned every past behaviour already.

The question the media should be asking is why they were content to sponsor him before this latest incident.

Sorry, I’m still back where you switched to Housos as if that’s not one of the most poorly made and offensive shows ever to have screened in the country.

https://mumbrella.com.au/an-open-letter-to-the-ad-industry-dont-sponsor-kyle-jackie-o-8183

Here’s a link from a while back asking sponsors to walk away. So pleased all sponsors are now pulling out of the show. Please Kyle just go away.

Well done tim and Colvinius @realchopperreid and Penbo, the sponsors who have pulled their cash and Alison stephenson for a great review. He’s out of here.

That’s the kind of analysis that broad-base Australian journalism and comment needs.

Tim? Great job.

And I agree with The Real Story; the writing was well and truly on the wall before now. It’s a big question about moral and social ethics that drives any brand to be connected with such baseless, talentless drivel.

What more does it take? After the teenager last year, how much more will it take before the horrid slug is fired? What shame can we bring down on the advertisers?

Sandilands – I thought people were supposed to bag her dog poo; how come they missed this pile?

Sandilands has always been a pathetic excuse for a human being.

Great job Tim. Thanks for the insight into how it unfolded.

Twitter has certainly played a huge part in this story. It also sparked almost 3000+ people to sign a petition to advertisers in the space of a few hours — http://chn.ge/tmdTSc. It’s still rising rapidly too…

I have always hated Kyle for the stuff he says to incite controversy. Another news story should be why Jackie O allows him to say all these misogynistic comments. No, it isn’t news that he says all this shocking stuff, and yet Jackie O just sits there condoning his comments. The sponsors are certainly doing the correct thing by pulling funds. Perhaps the network should finally pull the plug on the radio show that continuously pulls bad press.

Once again as always Kyle will not be punished by the clowns who run Austereo. He is untouchable to them and he knows it, hence why he keeps talking this kind of smut. Further to show how much 2day FM kiss his backside is the fact that he is always off on “sick leave” and he is not even in Australia on 90% or more of his broadcasts, instead does it from his place in LA with a sound booth and studio that Austereo’s shareholders no doubt paid for….!!!

I honestly cannot believe that these morons won best radio duo, not to mention the amount of listeners they get! When will people wake up and switch to the likes of Fitzy and Wippa on Nova, Claire and Rosso on Mix or Alan Jones on 2gb.

I wonder in all seriousnes if he has a MASSIVE payout clause in his contract for radio and for tv should he be cancelled or sacked.

Thats my 2 cents anyway

I think the fact that he-who-shall-not-be-named nearly got away with it speaks volumes; not many people actually listen when he is on the airwaves.

What your story also illustrates is the clever @colvinius listened to the show the day after the TV broadcast, anticipating something. That’s nose for a story in my view. The incident raises so many issues about commercial tv and radio standards, the goons who present and produce the content and, sadly, the dimwit audiences who, mostly, wouldn’t know shit from sugar, or care.

Hey watto,
Switching to Alan jones! Really he’s up there with Kyle pushing his agenda with insults etc.

Blatant sexual harassment. My apologies to Alison Stephenson for having to endure such despicable male behaviour in such a public way.
Great article, mUmBRELLA. Thanks for the consciousness raise.

Hi everyone,

A lot of the comments here and on social are not reflective of advertisers positions at all. I’ve only become aware of this issue affecting me this morning because of a huge spike in my brands mentions as a “sponsor”. We are not a sponsor of the show, we simply bought advertising on the network and this happened to appear during drive.

A lot of the comments suggest we’ve taken 24hours without action – but the first time (of many) this was raised was after 6pm last night via social media. Our social media manager would have been home cooking dinner for his children then and I’m probably the first to become aware of this (because I check our page when I wake up). Unfortunately, I’m ultimately responsible for signing off on our media plans so it looks like I’ve got a tough day ahead.

@Mel – if you’re suggesting that you buy advertising on the network with no knowledge of which timeslots and programming your ads will appear in I find that hard to believe, given my past experience in buying radio advertising.

But if true, then I suspect your conversations today might include questions about why you’re signing off on media spending with no knowledge of exactly how the money will be spent.

In either case, best of luck with your tough day 🙂

Excellent article; well written, accurate and most importantly thorough.

The sad irony is this whole kerfuffle will only give that incompetant egotist more viewers/listeners (whether they like him or not).

(I clicked on all yor ads to compensate!)

I hate you Vile Kye, get off the air and get off my screen! I can’t stand the look of you!!!

Hey Mel.. That all sounds fine, but you forget to mention which brand you represent…

Unless it’s Telstra/Nissan or Southern Cross Austereo…

That’s my take.

I never liked Kyle so I don’t tune in on 2dayfm. When I read and hear on line on his personal attack on Ali, my personal opinion on Kyle went even further down the drain. I hope and wish this guy will be removed and no one will ever ever touch him.

The plain fact is that Advertisers buy Eyeballs and Ear Holes.

Whilst Kyle is attracting both then by default advertisers will find their way into the show/s. Very few media planners will exclude cost effective audience for any reason. In the end if they don’t the biggest audience they will lose the business. Kyle will be still at work and they won’t.

You can’t blame the advertisers. If you do then are you going to blame when Ford for advertising in the News the day that Kyle is on there fighting Austereo in court for breaching his contract.

What ever happens unless you stop watching, listening and reading about Kyle then we have another few years yet of Toxic Sandilands.

With Qantas and Sandipants, its been a fascinating week to be on twitter…

Tim I don’t think you are addressing the REAL issue here.

Is @colvinus a normal human being? Does he ever sleep? I think he may, in fact be a robot.

Fantastic article. A really interesting and thorough read. Thanks 🙂

@The Real Story: I can appreciate your view on that, but we seriously didn’t.
@theTAKE: I didn’t forget, it was quite intentional 🙂

Isn’t this the guy that claimed nobody has ever said a bad word about him? The sh*t-stain that lies on the heart of the Australian Music Industry, the sooner he’s gone the better off we’ll ALL be.

As you for Mel, his comments ARE reflective of your product. You’re a sponsor on a network that shares his programming, so you’re equally responsible for funding this idiot. Don’t try to weasel out of it, have some damned accountability for once. ANY brand that has had contact with this disease has been unequivocally damaged and I say GOOD! I hope your brands suffer, because this isn’t exactly the first time Kong Kyle opened his fat mouth, so don’t act all surprised now when it all backfires on you.

He is the most disgusting human being that ever breathed. We as a race would be far better off without him. Boycott all media he is associated with until they take him off their books!

@Megan Bayliss – seriously, that’s offensive. It’s just despicable behaviour, not despicable *male* behaviour. Don’t dare drag the majority of decent blokes down to the same level as this scumbag.

Klye, sorry excuse of a human being. Anyone got a big rock and some rope?

Southern Cross Austereo’s reputation and brand is at risk if they don’t act to reprimand the culprit. Not surprising that there are no female independent directors on their board – just the Company Secretary (their lawyer).

Rather than give the K-Bomb any more oxygen, I’d just like to clarify that Housos is a scripted, fictional program, so as offensive as anyone may find it, it was written and performed that way very deliberately. As for the claim that it is one of the most poorly made shows to have ever screened in this country, I’d invite any critics to come along to set one day to see the huge amount of blood, sweat, that go into making this proud, local comedy. Not sure if you’ve noticed Scott but there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of that anymore. Paul Fenech and his creations may not be to everyone’s tastes. However it’s worth noting he has built up a sizeable, loyal audience over more than a decade of hard work, and Housos has motivated comments in person, in the media and online from people who are equally fanatical about its merits or lack of and as far as I’m concerned I’m thrilled to be involved in the production and all that it stands for. Please excuse my poor use of the English language. Selective schools aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

And yet people continue to listen to this extremely vulgar individual and his side kick. As long as he does numbers he stays, so it’s all rather simple. STOP LISTENING! No audience, no ratings, no advertisers, no show and no more Kyle!

Bang!

I don’t understand the outrage here. They gave the people what they want – the worst music ever put to air, the dumbest of all blonde bimbo stereotypes, and the guy that will always be the group joke for being the biggest douchebag. it’s not news that we live in a world that looks up to half wits like Kyle and vapid human-billboards like Kim K, it’s all in a day’s work for most of the people here. Since marketing to the kind of people that would listen to this show is the job of so many here, why are you all surprised?
Remember that episode of the Simpsons where the billboards came to life, so they got that marketing guru to come up with the “Just don’t look” jingle?
Well, aren’t you all marketing gurus? Good, now go write some jingle goodness!

@Adam Ferrier- couldn’t agree more!

Surely Michael’s post should be removed. Condemning inflammatory comments with similarly inflammatory comments does you no favours.

Come on. I agree with Kyle that why can journalists personally attack yet he can’t back. I think all personal attacks should be kept out of media, full stop, however I think it’s a natural instinct to fight back. He realises he made a mistake but seriously don’t we have better news stories Sydney.

Sadly, I can only see 2 things happening

1) He wont get the sack, at worst, Austereo will do a token, “He’s taking enforced leave” to try and placate their advertisers.

2) When he returns, his ratings will go through the roof, because sadly teh audience he appeals to love this stuff and controversy. If they didn’t and he didn’t rate well, he would have already been off the air for other incidents as has been already been pointed out.

I’m just lucky I live in Melbourne, we dont have his crap on air down here, (other than some 1 hour drive recap show which I never listen to anyway.

Another reason why Melbourne is better than Sydney, LOL!!! (please dont bite on this one Sydney-siders, just kidding)

He just needs to get over himself. Adam Ferrier summed it up well.

@ Megan Bayless – just correcting your statement.

Blatant sexual harassment by JACKIE O FOR NOT SPEAKING OUT AGAINST KYLE AND THUS CONDONING HIS BEHAVIOUR. My apologies to Alison Stephenson for having to endure such despicable FEmale behaviour (BY HER NOT STANDING UP TO HIM BUT GIGGLING ALONG AND MAKING WOMEN APPEAR TO BE MEEK AND TIMID WHICH THEY ARE NOT) in such a public way.
Great article, mUmBRELLA. Thanks for the consciousness raise.

Let’s not have a go at Kyle because of his “Male” behaviour, let’s rightly condem him because he’s a arrogant immature prick. They come in all shapes, ages, backgrounds, ethniticities and sexes.

Isn’t he also on News Ltd payroll as well? “Writing” a celeb in the wonderful Sunday Telegraph ?

Great story Tim, but misleading headline…. I don’t believe Scandilands has ever been humbled in his life, let alone by this latest controversy. I haven’t switched the dial from Tiple J since it was Double J, which puts me waaaaay out of their demographic, but at least I don’t have to be sickened by the revolting array of announcers on commercial radio.

I’d just love to know when all those sponsors who’re now running for the hills actually thought this moron WAS consonant with their brand values.
Lie down with dogs….

You know something is really up when your peers start to have a crack at you..

Andy Grace from Sydney’s WSFM posted on his Facebook account how appalled he was of Kyle and Jackie O.

I usually ignore the bile being transmitted from the 2DayFM breakfast studios, however following this morning’s non-apology and on the eve of White Ribbon Day I can do so no more. Kyle Sandilands you are a scumbag. On behalf of other FM radio jocks, resign. You are ruining our industry. Radio’s meant to be fun, not evil and vindictive. As for you Jackie – for years one of my closest friends in the world – your complicity in this hurts us even more.

It’s not the real chopper on twitter you goose

Just because Kyle has big titties that is still uncalled for!

Ok that’s Kyle done, now, Ray Hadley and Allen Jones. These 2 Gillard Bashers have taken inciting hatred to whole new depths. Anyone who saw last weeks Hampster Wheel would have heard the appalling things Singo’s 2 Gillard Bashers have been saying about the PM. How are they getting away with it? Singo, why don’t you pull your head out of Abbotts’ arse for a minute and stop this disgusting behavior from your employees. It’s un-Australian and it’s gutless for these cowards to throw this crap from safely behind their radio station glass. If they had any spine they’d actually get into politics. I don’t understand why advertisers so upset with Kyles’ abuse aren’t pulling their business from 2GB? Aren’t there any good men prepared to speak up and defend our female pm from this abuse?

Just thought I would weigh into this conversation with a look through the window from the other side… the advertising side. Firstly, there is a difference between program sponsors and advertisers.

Advertisers place ads in timeslots, normally, in shows with the most amount of listeners, which coincidentally (or not) is in the morning and afternoon drive times (surprise, surprise… we all have to get to work, school etc. somehow) and this is when the Kyle and Jackie O show airs. Quite often, companies don’t bother to research where their ad is going… they just go with the numbers of listeners to best reach the highest number of people.

A program sponsor, generally, chooses to sponsor a segment or show… this is often the ‘brought to you by…’ or named after then etc. etc. and it is here that the sponsor should take some responsibility. Well, if I was going to spend that amount of $$ on advertising my brand, I would do my homework on who I was being branded with, and as many of you have mentioned, this is not the first offence from Kyle, therefore, it should not come as a shock.

Having said that, if there are listeners, and lots of them, you weigh up the risk of being branded with another brand. And perhaps to some brands, a couple of negative days in the media alongside the ‘talent’ once a year or so might not hurt you too much (or so you think).

@Mel – if you are a program sponsor, then you should have known what you were in for, and if you didn’t then you aren’t paying the right people to do your research. If you are an advertiser, again, personally, I would still do my research, but know that the risk is much less as you are heaped in with a bunch of other ads and a lot of people zone out during the ads anyway unless its new or catchy.

Advertising has its place… and it’s role to play, as well as its own responsibility, but I think the onus should come back to Austereo. They are his employer; they have workplace behaviour guidelines (well I assume so anyway… I know my workplace certainly does!), not to mention a code of ethics and the commercial radio code of conduct. Austereo should be looking at their guidelines and how their presenters fit into it. The $$ side of things… the advertisers and sponsors will come, because, that’s when people listen, so it is the best time to expose your brand. And if you actually have content worth listening to, people will listen (or better yet, actually play some music).

@Tim – Great article! It really shows the power of social media and networks!

p.s. Just for balance, I do not work in the advertising industry, I’m on the opposite side of the fence… I just do my homework.

What Sandilands said was just plain dumb. But it’s inexusable that the female commentaors/co-hosts giggled throughout the tirade. In effect they’re condoning his comments and even encouraging him. They should also share in some of the justified criticism.

super story Tim…long live forensic journalism…

@theotherside

Just to clarify, we did a network buy and needed reach quickly. The numbers looked right, the demos looked right, etc.

The core point however isn’t about me, or what we were advertising or why. It’s that the first we heard of the comments was via social media, received WELL after business hours last night. We woke up this morning, only to find some pretty mean (and in some cases threatening) messages from signatories to “the petition”.

Key influencers accused us of “digging in our heels” and refusing to take action… The truth of the matter is that our staff need to sleep on occasion.

The fact is the leaders of the campaign claim to be taking a stand against threats of violence, but intentionally misrepresented the facts inciting threats of violence against us.

Hopefully it will send a message to Austereo, but it would be nice if it could have been achieved without the lies or threats of violence people chose to send while most of us were asleep.

Excellent piece, except for the absolute howler of including quotes from a parody Twitter account … If that happened elsewhere you’d certainly call it out…

Love this piece, Tim. Great to read. And great to see the volume of comments coming through on mUmbrealla now. Well deserved.
Sandilands is a giant douchebag.

Lets be honest, Kyle has always had his head when the sun don’t shine. Most listeners barely tolerate the rantings that spew from that cocky mouth of his, a puppet master to bland Jackie O. Enough is enough, they both gotta go….

There is something really weird about a porker like Sandilands insulting someone by calling them ‘fat’.

If anyone needs reminding about that creepy chauvinist’s history, you can find it on the infinitely hilarious “Kyle and Kittens”, which says it is “a website devoted to kittens and the many follies of misogynist sh*thead Kyle Sandilands.” I have been cracking up at that description all morning. You can find that at http://www.kyleandkittens.tumblr.com, and you can thank me later!

Following your stories about Sandlilands and his threat to go after a woman whose views he disagreed with, it is worth noting that in Victoria, a verbal assault, with the threat of violence, is an offence. The issue is not a freedom of speech issue, but is one of committing an illegal act. To threaten because of differing views is also an affront to common decency and public order.
Sandilands’ comment also suggests he would happily have violence visited on women who step out of line, his line. This view is more commonly ascribed to religious fundamentalists and is today, unusual among the Australian community, and would appear to have Sandilands in some distant, different gulag of opinion. Rejection of his view by advertisers and the broader community (evidenced by comments here) is to be welcomed.

Outraged? I couldn’t give a rat’s arse.

The sooner they get this foul mouthed cretan off the air waves and send him back into the gutter from where he emerged the better! He is pure trash and anyone who sponsors this idiot deserves to lose millions!

Kick him to the curb, he needs to learn that this sort of behaviour is unacceptable amongst decent human beings. He is a joke, the man is ugly in appearance and by nature, he is absolutely disgusting and repulsive and is by no means a “personality” that should grace our screens!

I have seen and been subjected to this kind of sexism in much of Australian culture. The old boys network that has these views about women is unfortunately prevalent in many high corporate jobs and especially in the entertainment industry yet in saying so I know many men in all walks of life who abhor this behaviour and who would be tremendously embarrassed about such comments. It’s really cringe worthy. Imagine if I spoke about a critics testicles and his inability to fill his jocks. It’s crass and base. This behavior is often seen as benign and harmless humor but I hope we all saw the disturbing undertow of malevolence and violence in this comment. Kyle said publicly what he probably hears everyday. I agree that Jackie O should have spoken up. Kyle is a bully and borish but it’s not suprising he said what he did and that’s honestly the scariest part.

When we have so much in the news these days about kids being bullied, Kyle acts like the 12 year old he clearly is mentally and throws stabs at a woman about the size of her breasts and her hair?! And Jackie Oh No! You’re no better. Sititng back cackling and not having much to say in defence of the woman doing her job and voicing what the graph in this blog clearly depcicts…. Your show was an absolute ratings disaster. Why doesn’t this duo make way for some fresh new, actual talent, and fade away out of their already dimmed llimelight.

The really crazy thing about this whole episode – IT WORKED. Everyone is talking about this deliberate antic at a ratings grab (it is not about votes or popularity).

But I must say, making personal attacks such as “skum of the Earth” stuff, against Kyle and Jackie-O does not put the writers on any level above these two, it actually puts those people in the SAME sludge-bucket as those they attack. Just change the name and see if the profile fits.

Broadcasters, Advertisers and Sponsers follow the money = ratings, thas all. And the ratings come from? one guess – listeners!!! Far too many Australians switch on and listen to tripe put out by ALL the shock jocks (jerks?). Some listen to be shocked, some to find affiliation and others just so they have someone to complain about.

Whatever the case, by default they condone the shock jocks incl. KS and JO therefore this is just abuse by proxy, if they did not agree they would not listen – period.

Hopefully by presentling this story as they have, Mumbrella and others with ethics may have brought some awareness to the (usually) unoppossed brutality and bullying dished out by these guys, thus resulting in some postive action, hopefully.

On white Ribbon Day, it’s great to see huge numbers of sposors pulling their ads from vile Kyle’s show, 2dayfm and austereo!

http://www.change.org/petition.....-vilekyle#

I feel for the advertisers — must be getting difficult to find shows to advertise products and services that share the values they want to be associated with. Females that shop and teenagers that control the radio during the morning car ride are a lucrative audience. Kyle is abhorrent to one market and not suitable to be around the latter.
But he & Jackie will struggle on, till the next dynamic duo emerges to take the spotlight. Kyle and Jackie are disposable, destined for over-promoted tell-alls and barely noticeable scandals, as they slip further down the greasy pole of popular women’s mags. They can only hope in years from now that anyone will care Where Are They Now.

So much outrage :/

Unlike the gleeful Kyle-bashers coming out of the woodwork her, . . . I positively savoured Kyle’s early morning statements unmediated by the scriptwriters and spoken from the heart. They were always honest and untempered by consideration.. Also a great place to study pure narcissism and how it is spoke.

I have long since ceased to be upset about the mindless ravings of Kyle who will in fact say the first thing that comes into his manic mind, if he thinks it will get him a few minutes “fame “. however what i do find unfortunate is that a t.v channel could waste so much money to inflict it on us who come from a land down under…which is an insult to our intelligence !! btw Rove join the group !!!

btw Kyle is a mild amatuer compared to the dreaded Alan Jones !!!

Weighing in late, was anyone watching this unfold on Facebook? First I heard of it was from Myer. It posted that Kyle’s comments weren’t condoned and they would be pulling advertising.With so many people on Facebook, I dare say there were more like me who were first notified on that medium, thinking, “What’s he done now?” (Response to this question was of course to check mumbrella! Nice work Tim.)