Bert Newton has defended his controversial comments during the Logie Awards

ENTERTAINMENT legend Bert Newton has backtracked after a series of bizarre statements he made while presenting at the Logie Awards.

BERT Newton immediately backtracked after a bizarre series of comments while presenting at the Logie Awards last night.

Taking to the stage to present the Graham Kennedy Award for Best New Talent, the 79-year-old raised eyebrows with his references to “mentoring”.

“Speaking of young talent, Graham Kennedy was always the sort of man who nurtured young talent,” Newton told the celebrity-packed audience.

“He enjoyed giving young people a chance on television, he was a great mentor, he mentored a lot of young people.

“You knew if you went to his dressing room it was locked, he will be inside doing some mentoring. Don Lane was a mentor too. He did a hell of a lot of mentoring.”

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Bert Newton was not fazed by the criticism to his rant. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Moonface played down the comments. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Many online took offence, asking on social media if Newton was referring to his deceased colleagues as sexual predators. Others said it was in ill taste given the Me Too movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal that has engulfed Hollywood and the broader entertainment industry.

When asked by News Corp about the comments, Newton played the statements down.

“It was totally innocent so far as I am concerned,” he said.

“In fairness these days, everything is jumped on. I am not that sort of person. I didn’t mean anything untoward.”

There were other clangers as Newton detailed the audience on his television resume over a career that started in 1957.

He later thanked his wife Patti for taking up his religion of having a TAB account and drinking red wine, after comparing the move to the way Waleed Aly’s wife Susan Carland had converted to Islam for him.

Bert Newton gets a standing ovation at the 2018 Logies. Picture: Channel 9

He also referred to himself being an “old p**f” on stage, which some people thought was “homophobic”.

The entertainment legend was greeted with a standing ovation when he walked out to present the award.