Normanville pub cancels Sam Newman gig after local backlash

The outspoken ex-TV star made a career out of controversial acts but they may have worn out his welcome in one SA town.

Outspoken former television personality Sam Newman has had his coming appearance at a Fleurieu Peninsula pub cancelled after the event sparked outrage from locals.

The Lady Bay Hotel in Normanville announced yesterday that it had made the decision to cancel An Evening With Sam Newman, scheduled to take place in mid-April, after concerns expressed online and from some of the hotel’s regular customer base.

“We just don’t like to be controversial, so when we started to get this sort of feedback, we made the decision to cancel the show,” says the hotel’s manager Steve Finlayson.

“We’ve been booking cover bands which have been really well received, so I think we’ll be sticking to musicians.”

Sam Newman. Picture: Nicole Cleary

No stranger to controversy for most of his career, the former champion player for Geelong and long-time member of Channel 9’s The Footy Show panel alongside Eddie McGuire and Garry Lyon hit headlines again in 2020.

Commenting on US man George Floyd, who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, Sam described Floyd as “a piece of s. t” during a podcast.

The fallout resulted in Sam resigning from Channel 9.

Other shocking incidents throughout Sam’s career have included wearing blackface to impersonate Indigenous AFL footballer Nicky Winmar, groping a lingerie-clad mannequin with journalist Caroline Wilson’s face attached in 2008 referring to transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner as “he” and “it” in 2017 and more recently, describing newly elected US President Joe Biden as “mentally retarded and has special needs” on Twitter.

Locally, he also flashed his bits to the crowd at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and a large television audience during a skit where he was being pushed on a hospital gurney by a nurse dressed in underwear.

In 2010 he hit a golf ball from the top of Uluru, offending traditional owners.

Sounds like the Lady Bay Hotel has made the right decision.