Career agitator Sam Newman is once again being given regular TV time on The Footy Show.
A press release issued this afternoon confirmed that Newman will be returning to The Footy Show (or more correctly The Sunday Footy Show, which airs mid-mornings) for a regular segment entitled Sam’s Shed, where he will, and we quote, “invite his closest mates and adversaries over to his garage where no topic is off limits.”
Newman, for those of you somehow not in the know, was previously a regular panel member on the Thursday night Footy Show, where he built a media profile on the back of a string of deliberately agitative stunts. The 74-year-old was frequently pulled up for repeated slights and remarks that were overtly homophobic, sexist, or racist. That included, but certainly was not limited to, a 1999 episode in which Newman appeared in full blackface, imitating Indigenous AFL player Nicky Winmar who was booked to appear on the episode, but no-showed.
More recently, Newman has wormed his way into national headlines for, among other things, calling Greta Thunberg an “annoying little brat” and a “shit,” stating US soccer megastar Megan Rapinoe had “all the characteristics of a dog,” and for leading a bizarre push against Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for banning people playing golf during the height of pandemic lockdown conditions.
Channel Nine (who, full disclosure, wholly owns this publication but refuses to let me anywhere near the Lou’s Handball target) did not provide any additional statement on Newman alongside the media release.
A regular, weekly segment where Sam Newman can discuss things with only his friends and “no topic is off limits.”
Absolutely impeccable reading of the room, this. Staggering piece of of-the-moment casting.
