Kyle Sandilands, the weeping sore on Australian media’s backside, has been picked to be a judge on Australian Idol. That’s despite the fact he was literally fired from that very same show in 2009 for a truly awful radio segment featuring a teenage girl.
Back in 2009 — which we can universally agree was a Dark Time For Popular Culture — The Kyle and Jackie O Show (which was on 2Day FM at the time) featured a lie detector segment. In this particular episode, a 14-year-old girl was attached the lie detector and her mum was also there.
First of all: who the FUCK thought strapping a 14-year-old girl to a lie detector test was a good and fun idea?
According to an article from The Guardian published at the time, the girl was asked by her mum if she was sexually active.
She said that she had been raped at age 12.
Kyle Sandilands then replied: “Right… and is that the only experience you’ve had?”
At that point, co-host Jackie O stopped the show. The presenting duo apologised and said they didn’t know about the girl’s rape.
Still: hugely gross — particularly Kyle’s comment — and it received a ton of backlash at the time, including from then-PM Kevin Rudd.
“This is a young girl and I am, as I think most Australians are, really distressed at the way in which the young person has been treated in this way,” Rudd said.
The radio show was taken off-air for a while and, in the aftermath, Network 10 fired Sandilands from Idol.
In a statement, the Network thanked Sandilands for his “contribution” to the show, per The Daily Mail.
“But it has become increasingly clear that as Idol has remained a family-focused show, even more so this year with the 6.30 Sunday time slot — his radio persona has taken on a more controversial position over this period which is not in the interest of the show.”
So it’s great to know Channel 7 has decided to show a massive lapse of moral fortitude and cast Sandilands on the Australian Idol reboot.
The decision is more than disappointing: Channel 7’s choice shows there are literally no consequences for men that say terrible shit.
Was there really no one else Channel 7? Really? No one?
Help is available.
If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
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