How Nine benefits from incredible timing of Titus Day’s arrest
Celebrity talent manager Titus Day’s arrest created the perfect publicity storm for the Channel 9 — though at the expense of the man who can largely take credit for building the Guy Sebastian brand, Annette Sharp writes.
Music
Don't miss out on the headlines from Music. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Last week’s astonishing arrest of the Sydney talent manager with the mercurial moniker Titus Day appeared to have been engineered to achieve a blunt force hit on a man who, at one time, wagered everything he had on his then only client, the happy clapping prime ministerial pal Guy Sebastian.
From the moment footage of Day’s arrest was broadcast on Nine’s morning news programs on Thursday, alarm bells started ringing throughout a stunned entertainment industry.
What incredible timing.
The arrest of Sebastian’s long-time agent came just five days after the release of the singer’s new Sony Music single, two days after Nine extraordinarily screened a Guy Sebastian TV special and as Nine, Sebastian’s employer, heads into its final promotional push for The Voice 2020, which concludes this month.
It also coincides with the expiration of Sebastian’s contract with Nine, something that ends with the conclusion of the current season of The Voice.
MORE FROM ANNETTE SHARP:
Highly paid Nine stars facing massive pay cuts
Suzi Taylor: The making of a fallen ‘star’
Jackie O splashes big bucks on house as Armytage sells
It’s easy to see why many are therefore convinced Sebastian would have been relieved to see the arrest of his old friend, manager, business partner and sometime babysitter and to deliver unto his employer Nine a swath of timely publicity.
Some of it may even offset the recent negative press Sebastian attracted after coming under fire for aligning himself with the federal government’s arts relief package on June 25 and after recently clashing with Kelly Rowland on the talent show, prompting fans to label him this season’s “villain”.
Day’s arrest created the perfect publicity storm for Nine — though at the expense of the man who, more than any other individual outside of Sebastian, can largely take credit for building the Guy Sebastian brand.
The footage of Day’s arrest, at 6.30pm on Wednesday as he was sitting down to dinner with his three young children at his home in Bondi, was soon broadcast across all media — with Nine tweeting it on Wednesday night at 9.10pm.
Nine’s newspaper partner also made an early pre-arrest inquiry to the police on Wednesday about the timing of the arrest, police confirmed yesterday, though the identity of the person who tipped the newspaper off remains unclear.
The next morning Nine’s breakfast news hosts were excitedly broadcasting footage of Day’s humiliating arrest and throwing to a reporter in the field brandishing the “first copy” of Sebastian’s prepared statement, in which he said he was “absolutely devastated to learn the nature and detail” of the charges.
Yet given he reported the allegation to police on June 3, he could hardly have been all that surprised.
The battle over money has been bumping around in the civil court between the two men for two years after Day first alleged it was Sebastian who owed him money when the singer quit Day’s talent agency, 6 Degrees, before the end of what Day has alleged was a contract period — costing Day a small fortune after he’d booked venues for a forthcoming tour that then couldn’t proceed.
Sebastian then sued, Day countersued — and police have now charged Day with fraud for allegedly diverting $1.15 million in earnings from Sebastian.
That police were called in to this messy affair at all raises many questions.
Police Media yesterday clarified none of Day’s other previous clients have brought complaints against their former manager. It could be argued that’s not entirely true.
A number are known to have complained repeatedly and loudly to Day during their association with him after he showed habitual favouritism to Sebastian at the expense of their own careers.
It’s understood to have been one of the key reasons for Grant Denyer’s split with Day in 2018.
It’s a decision Day, who walked from his former partnership with Sean Anderson of 22 Management taking just one client with him, Sebastian, may never have the luxury of making again.
Originally published as How Nine benefits from incredible timing of Titus Day’s arrest