Kyle Sandilands has demanded to be allowed back on air after insisting he did not breach his $100 million contract with radio company ARN but revealed he regretted berating his co-host Jackie “O” Henderson live on air last month.
In a statement on Tuesday released by his manager and The Kyle and Jackie O Show’s producer Bruno Bouchet, Sandilands claimed ARN did not run a “genuine process” before terminating Henderson’s contract and suspending him for a fortnight.
“I am not going to pretend that everything about this situation is simple. Jackie told me she was hurt, and I accept that. But we have had disagreements before and we have always worked through them,” Sandilands said. After the broadcast, he said he had texted Henderson to apologise.
“That is what partners do. We never needed lawyers or ASX announcements to sort things out. I believe we could have sorted this out too, if ARN had given us the chance.“
“The truth is that ARN terminated Jackie’s contract on the same day it accused me of a breach. It suspended me from work. All of this happened while I was being told to sit quietly and say nothing. That is not a genuine process.”
Sandilands berated Henderson to the point of tears on February 20, claiming she had become consistently distracted by astrology. ARN said Henderson had told the company she could no longer work with her broadcasting partner of 27 years, causing the network to terminate her contract. It also suspended Sandilands and said it would tear up his pay deal too if he could not remedy what it termed “serious misconduct”.
On Tuesday Sandilands insisted he had not breached his contract and said intends to continue presenting breakfast radio as he has done “entire adult life”.
“I am asking ARN to do the right thing: honour our agreement and let me get back to doing what I do best — entertaining the people who have supported this show for more than two decades.
“To my listeners: Thank you. I miss you. I’ll be back.”
More to come.
Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.From our partners
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