Radio host Chris Smith reignites feud with former 2GB colleague Ray Hadley

Ray Hadley has hit back at embattled radio host Chris Smith after Smith marked his return to the airwaves by launching a stinging spray at his former 2GB colleague. Hear what he had to say.

Embattled radio host Chris Smith has ripped into his former colleague Ray Hadley for being a “hypocrite” who allegedly “spent decades at two radio stations bullying staff.”

The two broadcasters have traded jibes after Smith lost gigs with Sky News Australia and 2GB in the wake of allegations of inappropriate behaviour at a work Christmas party.

But the fallen radio host took the opportunity to hit back at his former colleague during his new program as a presenter with the online talkback station TNT Radio.

“One critic in particular, the former bully boy colleague of mine at 2GB who shall remain nameless, he apparently described me as a monster I’m told,” Smith said during his program on Tuesday.

“What a hypocrite, what a shocking hypocrite, he spent decades at two radio stations bullying staff ... I know these people well,” Smith claimed.

Chris Smith started a new job at TNT Radio two months after he lost gigs with Sky News and 2GB over allegations of inappropriate behaviour. Picture: Facebook

Smith appeared to justify his indiscretions by pointing the finger at Hadley for carrying out his alleged actions sober.

In 2019 Hadley apologised to another former colleague, Chris Bowen, over bullying accusations.

Ray Hadley didn’t pull any punches when news of Smith’s axing broke. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“He didn’t need to be sloshed to carry out his vendettas, he didn’t do it smashed, he did it sober ... he did it in the daylight hours, he did it willingly,” Smith claimed.

“And he calls me some kind of monster for doing what I did that night, well I’ll wear what I did much easier than having to wear his record of behaviour.”

Hadley fired back on Wednesday, telling The Daily Telegraph: “There’s no justification for persistent, unwanted advances on women — it’s a pattern of behaviour that has been evident for decades.”

Chris Smith has hit back at former his former colleague Ray Hadley over bullying accusations. Picture: Richard Dobson

Ray Hadley apologised to another former colleague over bullying accusations in 2019. Picture Renee Nowytarger / The Australian

Smith’s comments on Tuesday were seemingly a returned serve after 2GB heavyweight Hadley took a cheeky swipe at him after a caller asked the broadcaster if TNT Radio hosts Christmas Parties.

“I’ve got absolutely no idea whether they have Christmas parties, they might have to suspend them in view of recent events,” Hadley said during his show last Thursday.

Hadley criticised Smith last year when news broke of his axing.

“Young women should be protected. They shouldn’t be going to Christmas parties and being monstered by drunken fools. I have no sympathy for him,” he said during his morning show in December.

Smith, 60, was sacked by both 2GB and Sky News after two women came forward to say the 60-year-old broadcaster had allegedly groped or made sexual advances towards them at The Establishment following the Sky News Christmas party last year.

Multiple eyewitnesses alleged at the time that Smith made a series of lewd comments to female colleagues before inappropriately touching more than one woman, leaving one in tears and forcing another to strike him.

Smith checked himself into a mental health facility in December after apologising profusely for his “humiliating” behaviour.

He was previously been disciplined for similar behaviour 24 years earlier after he exposed himself to two young women during a farewell party at Channel 9’s Artarmon HQ in Sydney in 1998.

At the time Smith was chief of staff at the Nine Networks’ A Current Affair.

Smith was not immediately sacked over the incident.

Four women also complained about his behaviour at a 2GB Christmas party in 2009, after which he was suspended but not dismissed