Matt Doran, the Channel 7 reporter behind the great Adele cock-up, has broken his silence on the incident in an interview with The Australian.
ICYMI: Yesterday it was revealed that Doran had been flown over to the UK to interview Adele about her new album 30. The bloke had 20 to 30 minutes with the star, not to mention a 23 hour flight to the UK, and yet he failed to listen to the album prior to the interview, which is literally the bare minimum of his job.
As a result, Sony reportedly withheld footage of the interview, which subsequently cost the Seven network $1 million and copped Doran a very fair suspension.
That’s what’s been reported anyway, but he’s now claiming that he was never “formally” suspended, despite being off the air for the weekend.
Doran told The Australian he is “mortified and unequivocally apologetic” over the almighty blunder.
There’s been some back and forth online about whether or not he had had access to Adele’s album prior to the chat, as it was released to the world just a few days before the interview (and he was in the air for part of that time).
He has now confirmed rumours that an advanced copy was emailed to him, but he says he “somehow missed” it, calling it “the most important email I have ever missed”.
“When I sat down to interview Adele, I was totally unaware that I’d been emailed a preview of her unreleased album,” Doran said.
“I have since discovered it was sent to me as an ‘e card’ link, which I somehow missed upon landing in London. It was an oversight but NOT a deliberate snub. This is the most important email I have ever missed.”
Ah yes, the ol’ ‘the dog ate my email’ excuse. That oughta do it.
I can tell ya this as an entertainment editor, when you receive an advanced copy of a film or an album, it is an absolute honour that’s been bestowed upon you that you treat with the utmost respect.
And when you’re being flown across the world to interview one of the greatest singers of all time, you make damned sure that you’ve read up on every singe aspect of their life beforehand, because you never know what’ll come in handy during the chat. From their favourite flower to their favourite Spice Girl to their favourite Indian dish (Adele’s is chicken korma, BTW, as mentioned in her iconic livestream).
Listening to their latest work is literally the BARE fkn MINIMUM of the research you’d undergo before chatting to them. So the ‘I missed the email!’ excuse really doesn’t fly. I know your inbox can become overrun by press releases and newsletters that you signed up for years ago but can’t be assed unsubscribing from, but how do ya not go looking for the album or hit up the record label for a copy so that you’re prepared for the chat? Not good enough, IMO.
I’m enraged at the fact that any other entertainment journalist would’ve handed over a limb for this opportunity, and yet it was granted to a bloke who clearly gave zero fucks. But I’m most disappointed for the fans (including myself) as this was the only Adele chat Australian media was given and now everyone has missed out on what could’ve been an epic interview.
Doran claimed that when asked by Adele if he’d listened to her new album, he responded by saying that he had heard her single, ‘Easy On Me’, “but not the other tracks”.
There have been mixed reports regarding what happened after Adele found out he’d snubbed her album. Despite claims that the singer walked out upon learning this cooked fact, Doran says it was the “polar opposite”.
“What was meant to be 20 minutes was extended to 29 minutes. The majority of the chat was about the album,” he said.
Although the interview was recorded, Adele’s label Sony has reportedly denied Channel 7 rights to air any of it. Rival network Ten has since aired the performance and Oprah interview instead.
Never mind, you’ll find someone like her (lol jokes, nah ya won’t. There’s nobody like Adele).
As a side note, I was once working at a teen magazine many, many moons ago, and I was tasked with interviewing The Janoskians (the questionable blokes who were recently selling their pubic hair online). Despite the fact that I wasn’t really a fan, to say the least, it was my job to chat to them about their latest work, and so I forced myself to endure their music, because their fans deserved a great interview.
And even during the chat when they were chortling like the boys sitting at the back of a rowdy school bus and cracked multiple jokes about semen, which was unusable since I was working on a teen brand (and also ew), I kept my composure and rattled off question after question about their music. This was when I was a junior reporter, it’s literally journalism 101. Listen. To. The. Fucking. Album.
Matty Galea is the Senior Entertainment Editor at PEDESTRIAN.TV who also dabbles in woo-woo stuff like astrology and crystals and has been penning horoscopes since the start of his career. He also Tweets about pop culture and astrology and posts spicy content on Instagram.
