‘My baby is not for marketing’: Brisbane radio host claps back at trolls baby announcement

Brisbane’s KIIS 97.3 radio host Kip Wightman has responded to online cynics who have claimed his lie detector-inspired baby announcement was nothing more than a publicity stunt for ratings. HAVE YOUR SAY

Brisbane breakfast radio host Kip Wightman has hit back at online trolls following his recent baby announcement.

The KIIS 97.3 radio personality, who shared the news of his partner Nyomie Essa’s pregnancy on air following a lie detector test in which he admitted he wanted more children, faced a barrage of cynical comments from some netizens, including one comment suggesting the announcement was aimed at boosting radio ratings.

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Brisbane radio host Kip Wightman claps back at trolls baby announcement. Photo: KIIS97.3.

The lie detector segment, intended to probe Wightman’s thoughts on having more children, took an unexpectedly joyful turn when he revealed that Essa was pregnant.

Although this heartwarming revelation was met by many congratulatory messages on social media, it was also met with some scepticism online.

A touching moment between the radio hosts. Photo: KIIS97.3

In a subsequent broadcast, Wightman addressed the trolls with his characteristic humour.

He read out comments from listeners, starting with ‘Kimdog88’, who had simply labelled the announcement as ‘Lame’.

Wightman questioned the excitement levels of someone whose profile picture is their pet.

“What’s going to excite you ‘Kim dog’?” he asked.

Other responses ranged from sarcastic to outright dismissive.

One user, ‘Sureillbethere’, responded with a lacklustre ‘Oh. Yea.’, while another, ‘nikovic88’, compared the excitement of the baby news to having a coffee.

“It’s the most exciting day in most people’s lives. Can we get excited about something?” Wightman asked.

Co-host Robin Bailey chimed in, questioning why these netizens couldn’t just be “gracious and generous for another human being”.

Radio host Robin Bailey screams at the news. Photo: KIIS97.3

However, the most striking comment came from a netizen who insinuated that the pregnancy was a ploy for better ratings.

Wightman responded with a mix of laughter and seriousness, emphatically stating, “My baby is not for marketing. It’s a real human child that I’m thrilled to be bringing into the world. It’s not marketing.”

Adding to the humour, Bailey jokingly suggested that the baby was indeed for ratings, to which Wightman played along, saying they would name the baby ‘Ratings’.

“We’re gonna name the child boy or girl we’re gonna name it ‘rating’, because that’s what it’s for,” he said.