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Sky News drops Outsiders from schedule after sacking of Mark Latham

Sky News has dropped Outsiders from its schedule after sacking co-host Mark Latham.

The News Corp owned new channel had initially declined to respond to questions about the future of the show.

But the live broadcast of tomorrow morning’s episode and its evening repeat have now been removed from the Foxtel electronic program guide.

Outsiders has been replaced by and extra half hour of Weekend Live with Ahron Young.

Asked about the disappearance of the show from the EPG, a Sky News spokeswoman told Mumbrella in an email: “The program is in recess.”

Outsiders featured outspoken former Labor leader Mark Latham, ex-Liberal MP Ross Cameron and former adman and now Spectator Australia editor Rowan Dean.

Announced in November last year, the show was timed to air on Sunday mornings just after the ABC’s Insiders. It featured the outspoken trio giving their take on the week’s events, presenting themselves as marginalised middle aged white men.

Opening with a scene in which the trio turned up at the doors of Fairfax Media carrying weapons, only one episode was aired in 2016, which rated an average of 22,000 viewers.

Outsiders: Cameron, Dean and Latham at the doors of Fairfax Media

The show then went on an extended Christmas break.

After Outsiders’ brief return, Latham in particular caused a number of controversies through his on-air attacks on public figures. He made a number of potentially libellous comments about the likes of Sky News presenter and former NSW premier Kristina Kenneally, Sky News presenter Peter van Onselen and ABC broadcaster Wendy Harmer.

The final straw appeared to be when it emerged that on an earlier show Latham had questioned the sexuality of a schoolboy, which was then labelled as bullying behaviour. He was sacked on Wednesday afternoon.

However, Cameron and Dean had also been involved in controversies of their own.

Last month, Cameron was revealed to have made homophobic jokes at a public event.

And a column written by Dean for the Australian Financial Review about the appointment of Julia Gillard as new chair of anti-depression organisation Beyond Blue was widely criticised.

Dean: Gillard column drew criticism

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