Triple M announcer Lee Faulkner apologises for ‘locker room talk’ about female colleagues
Triple M Darling Downs’ Lee Faulkner has apologised live on air for engaging in “locker room talk” about women he has “worked with and continues to work with”.
“I’ve been involved in so-called locker room talk about… female colleagues that I have worked with and continue to work with, and I’ve joined in wholeheartedly,” he said.
Faulkner admits to being guilty of sexism
“I’ve been guilty of making sexist remarks to women in the name of humour and in keeping with those men in my company at the time.
“I’ve been guilty of allowing myself to accept this behaviour as simply part of the norm, part of the Australian culture,” he said on air.
“But the bottom line is this,” he added, “if I expect my wife and my daughter to have the same opportunities in life as me and my son are afforded, which I certainly do… Then something has to change.”
Faulkner admitted he was influenced by the men around him, as well as media including “MTV, Playboy, Benny Hill, Carry On movies, and many other forms of media in which women were objectified in the name of humour, sensationalism, or simply to sell something.”
The Triple M announcer’s comments came during a segment about Senator David Leyonhjelm’s slurs against parliamentarian Sarah Hanson-Young last week.
Leyonhjelm had repeated comments he’d made to Hanson-Young in parliament about “shagging men” during an appearance on controversial right-wing Sunday morning show Outsiders, which screens on Sky News.
During the show’s broadcast, the senator’s comments were repeated in an on-screen caption, which eventually led to the suspension of a Sky News producer.
The presenters of the Sky News show, Rowan Dean and Ross Cameron, subsequently apologised for their part in the broadcast, saying: “There is a line which shouldn’t be crossed and yesterday that line was crossed.”
Faulkner’s Triple M colleague Barry Hall similarly found himself in the middle of a sexism row last week, after he made a crude on-air joke about fellow panelist Leigh Montagna’s pregnant wife Erinn.
Hall was fired from the Southern Cross Austereo-owned network within minutes.
Triple M followed up by discussing the situation on its prime-time breakfast show with both Meshel Laurie and the CEO of Our Watch Patty Kinnersly, devoting around 10 minutes to each interview.
Triple M’s parent company Southern Cross Austereo was approached for further comment.
Saying you are sorry for Locker Room talk on air, is a bit of a ‘fauxpology’. Because you’re basically saying: I can say those things behind closed doors, but not in public.
Until we all wake up and remove this kind of vile and discriminatory language from all of our conversations and thoughts – in private and in public – this will go on. Just stop it!
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Is this some sort of attempt for media attention? Did someone at mumbrella hear this segment live and decide to report on it or was it sent via a press release? No one at Triple M (proper) would know who this announcer is, including the heads of content. I’m sure he and Barry Hall have never met. This whole apology just seems odd.
BTW – don’t stretch the logo.
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I see you’ve read my book.
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A great reply, some people are so extreme.
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