Media Statement 13th Jan 2012

In late 2011, shortly after Kyle's personal attacks against a popular Australian journalist about her breast size, calling her a "piece of s---" and threatening to "Watch your mouth girl, or I will hunt you down." in response to her honest assessment of a TV program hosted by Kyle, SACK VILE KYLE was created on Facebook by a group of Australians who were fed up with Kyle's insincere apologies and Southern Cross Austereo’s defence of Kyle's comments. Since then SACK VILE KYLE has actively worked with change.org and Collective Shout to campaign the removal of Kyle Sandilands and the restoration of quality radio programming to our public air waves. With Kyle returning to the airwaves on Monday 16th January, SACK VILE KYLE will continue this campaign for as long as it takes for Kyle to be removed.

Following his latest vitriolic attack on a female journalist, Kyle Sandilands continues to provide his employers with more shock than jock. Indeed this one man misogynist band’s deplorable excuse for entertainment has led to public outcry on social media networks Facebook and Twitter, and has spurred the rise of a petition of more than 32,000 signatures all demanding the radio station 2dayfm clean up the public air waves and “Sack Vile Kyle” (http://www.change.org/petitions/2day-and-fox-fm-sponsors-cancel-advertising-until-kyle-sandilands-is-dumped-from-radio-vilekyle). But Southern Cross Austereo is somewhat slow to accept that this man’s reign of vulgarity has run its course and that people are simply tired of listening to both his and the stations’ excuses for his verbal outbursts. Surely at some point common sense and decency must prevail? Yet it seems that SCA remains unmoved by the mass exodus of 68 major sponsors who have withdrawn their advertising campaigns from 2dayfm in 2011 of which 28 have pledged to continue their boycott into 2012 banning station from running their advertisements on the Kyle & Jackie O show and website.

Perhaps SCA executives feel that Mr Sandilands’ string of public violations is to be condoned, at least by their paying sponsors. They (SCA) certainly don’t care about the public’s best interests whose frustrations expressed in thousands of signatures, phone calls, emails, Facebook and twitter messages continue to go unheard, but for how long? How many more appalling displays of bad behaviour does that public have to endure? Is the long list of offences not long enough already?

April 2010
On The Kyle and Jackie O Show on 2Day FM, Sandilands and Jackie O interviewed three of golfer Tiger Woods’s former mistresses, with Sandilands asking one of them in reference to the size of the star's genitals if he was a ‘‘massive donkey’’. When she responded with yes, he asked her: ''Were you surprised, [saying] 'Man, you're half Asian, half black, obviously the half black is what's going on downstairs'?''

September 2009
On his radio show, Sandilands suggested Australian comedian Magda Szubanski, who was a spokeswoman for a weight-loss company, would lose more weight in a concentration camp. Szubanski is of Polish origin, a country where many of the worst Nazi concentration camps were located.

July 2009
A 14-year-old girl appeared on Sandilands' 2Day FM show, strapped to a lie detector to be questioned by Sandilands, Jackie O and the girl's mother. After the girl revealed she was raped at the age of 12 in response to a question from her mother, Sandilands said: ''Right ... is that the only experience you’ve had?'' Public outrage followed and Sandilands was sacked from his job as a judge on Australian Idol by Channel Ten.

October 2006
As a judge on Australian Idol, Sandilands described contestant Bobby Flynn as a ''full mong''. The term "mong'' refers to mongoloids and has been used in the past as a label for people with Down Syndrome. Sandilands' manager said at the time the comment was taken out of context and was a ‘‘slang term’’ and not meant to refer to people with Down Syndrome. A fortnight earlier he told contestant and eventual runner-up Jessica Mauboy she should ''lose the jelly belly'' if she wanted to succeed.

August 2006
On his radio show, Sandilands called a heavily pregnant journalist, Fiona Connolly, a ‘'fat toad'’, ‘'fat lying mole'’ and ‘'little cretin'’, after a column she wrote about faked phone calls on The Kyle and Jackie O Show.

October 2005
As a judge on Australian Idol, Sandilands criticised the weight of contestant Kate DeAraugo (who went on to win the 2005 Australian Idol), telling her she had ''tuckshop lady arms''.
 (http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/kyle-sandilands-history-of-offence-20111123-1ntwi.html)

These examples are only a few but they are by no means in isolation yet each one is followed by a public apology by Sandilands’ employers (http://www.2dayfm.com.au/shows/kyleandjackieo/kyle-sandilands-statement-december-2011, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/kyle-asandilands-and-jacki-o-return-to-air-and-apologise-for-lie-detector-controversy/story-e6frewz0-1225763076271, http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/859555/kyle-sandilands-offends-again.) Anyone who even dares to criticise this man publicly is likely to bear the full brunt of his wrath but thankfully (for him) his employers will quickly step up with a public apology on his behalf. After all, Kyle Sandilands would never openly or genuinely agree to apologise unless under duress as he sees his retaliations as justified as a constitutional right of free speech. Perhaps someone needs to explain to Mr Sandilands that the right of free speech is mute when civil liberties such as public decency and safety are compromised.

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