Grant Hackett may soon be out of a gig, as not one but two organisations are reportedly seeking to distance themselves from the swimmer after he nipple crippled a fellow passenger on a flight and was detained by the Australian Federal Police.
Although Hackett’s Olympic swimming career is over, he was rumoured to be set for a few sweet gigs at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, one as a mentor with the Australian Olympic Committee and one as a commentator with Channel 7.
That might all be going caput.
The Australian is reporting that since the incident, the AOC is distancing themselves. At this morning’s unveiling of the Olympic uniforms (which actually look pretty fucken’ sick and not at all like a private school squad you want to deck), team chief Kitty Chiller said they were “surprised and shocked” at his actions.
“It’s up to Swimming Australia if they want to potentially use him,” she said. “We back up what Swimming Australia said in their statement yesterday. They can’t condone what happened.”
Channel 7, meanwhile, is murkier still. When the Gold Coast Bulletin asked Hackett if he was hoping to make it to Rio as part of Channel 7’s team (he was a commentator during the 2012 London Olympics, managing to hold onto the gig despite reports of a drunken rampage, which lost him his anti-domestic violence ambassadorial role), he answered:
“I guess that is a possibility after getting the call-up a few hours after I finished up here. I haven’t really had too many discussions in relation to anything that far down the track, I’m just enjoying the week.”
The SMH is reporting that Channel 7 has no contract in place with Hackett, and it remains to be seen if they will.
So there you have it. One piss-drunk nipple cripple later, and Grant Hackett may no longer have two jobs he may not not ever have had in the first place.
Source: The Australian / Gold Coast Bulletin / SMH.
Photo: Getty / Quinn Rooney.
