Brands review advertising with KIIS FM after Sandilands’ on-air comments

Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands could cost KIIS FM multimillion-dollar advertising contracts, with major brands reviewing whether or not they will continue to advertise with the radio network.

Two major Australian brands are reviewing their advertising spend on KIIS FM in an effort to distance themselves from Sydney’s FM king Kyle Sandilands and his foul mouth.

Millions of dollars hang in the balance for executives at KIIS FM parent company ARN, which has finally issued an apology to those “impacted by the segment”.

“We value diversity in all its forms and in no way endorse or support comments that spread hate or fear,” a spokesman for major KIIS advertiser TPG Telecom (parent company of Vodafone) told The Daily Telegraph on Thursday.

“We will review Mr Sandilands’ comments and amend our advertising schedule accordingly.”

A growing chorus of names have spoken out against the 51-year-old, who a week ago labelled his bosses and colleagues “spazzes”; “losers”; “flops” and “absolute a … holes”.

Kyle Sandilands has come under fire after an on-air rant where he labelled his colleagues “spazzes”. Picture: Twitter

Phil Wade, marketing director for hardware giant Bunnings which is also a major advertiser on KIIS said the company’s advertising “runs across a broad mix of media” and said the comments did not reflect their views.

“(The advertising placement) does not reflect our view on any given topic. We have conveyed our concerns to the station and are currently reviewing our advertising program,” Mr Wade said.

Other major advertisers on the radio network including Chemist Warehouse, Jetstar, McDonald’s Coles, Woolworths, Vittoria Coffee, Kia, Uber, and Telstra have not yet publicly commented on their position on the furore.

Woolworths said it “would take a look” at the situation but is yet to issue any further comment.

After more than a week of crisis talks, ARN finally issued an apology today.

“ARN does not endorse or condone the comments made by Kyle Sandilands, nor the language that was used or the context with which it was spoken during a segment broadcast on Thursday 29th September,” the statement read. “It was not an expression of the views of ARN, which prides itself on an inclusive workplace, however we accept responsibility and unreservedly apologise to everyone impacted by the segment both at ARN and the broader community. We also acknowledge and support Kyle’s apology on air this morning. We are taking this matter very seriously and are undertaking a full review to further reinforce the processes currently in place.”

Sandilands apologised on air too but vowed not to change.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I like to make people feel fun, relaxed, happy and safe,’ he said, before adding firmly: ‘I’m never going to change. ‘I’m still not changing [for] the woke world.”

The so-far Teflon-coated Sandilands has emerged from a laundry list of scandals, dating back to 2009, because advertisers, not listeners, decide his fate.

Kyle SandilandsPicture: Justin Lloyd.

However, widespread criticism from the public, in addition to prominent disability activist Hannah Diviney and veteran broadcaster Ray Hadley, may force their hand. Ms Diviney described as “feeble’’ a two-page apology from the company in response to a 2021 complaint about Sandilands likening the athletic performance of Tokyo Paralympians to “sausages”.

RADIO SILENCE FROM ARN AS KYLE DOUBLES DOWN

Radio broadcaster ARN remains defeaningly silent as KIIS FM breakfast host Kyle Sandilands has doubled down on his mockery of disabled and gay people.

Days after smashing his colleagues and bosses as “spazzes”, and weeks after referring to Monkeypox as “the big gay disease”, Sandilands on Tuesday’s show claimed on air that producer Jermaine D’Vauz (Jermajesty) had left the station because “the hours don’t work with a young gay man just arriving in Sydney.”

“I wrote him something like ‘once f**king isn’t your number one priority in life, and work is, give me a call and you can come back. Because everyone who just loves d*** goes to work at Nova, because work comes second over there.”

Sandilands went on to belittle producer Adam Price, nicknamed ‘Shivering Adam’, for his tics.

Sandilands and KIIS FM co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.

Tics are sudden twitches, movements, or sounds that people do repeatedly, and are often caused by tourette’s syndrome.

People who have tics cannot stop their body from doing these things.

Sandilands told listeners Price “had that closeted vibe, desperate to burst out onto the scene”.

“Didn’t that tic throw you off?” he asked his co-hosts.

“He’s a good guy, but then he’d do that (Sandilands mimicked stuttering), didn’t the tics freak you out?”

Co-host Jackie O said: “I could push through the shaking.”

“He’s not that hot!” Sandilands shouted back. “You’re at dinner and all of a sudden he’s wobbling. You don’t want to have to explain his shaking each time he does it.”

Mandy Maysey, President of the Tourette Syndrome Association of Australia, said Sandilands was giving Australians permission to bully and demean disabled people.

“Kyle Sandilands has built his career on being a ‘shock jock’ and the notoriety of it all,” Maysey told Confidential.

Mandy Maysey (right). Picture: Regina King

“He seems to care very little for those that get in his firing line. There are plenty of people with tics who can have a laugh about the absurdity of it with their friends. After all, you don’t get very far in this life taking it too seriously. However, what Kyle is doing is publicly ridiculing somebody with a disability. And in doing so, he makes it socially acceptable forthe bullies out there to continue doing the same.”

Maysey is a mother of three children with Tourette’s Syndrome (TS), who knows first hand their daily struggle to face theworld.

“People with TS, many of them children, face ridicule every day. Kyle’s ableist, and quite frankly bullying behaviour hasno place in 2022 and certainly no place in the workplace.”

“I wonder how Kyle would feel if his little Otto (Sandilands newborn son) developed TS, and whether he would see it as sucha joke then?”

In a two-page letter, ARN defended their commitment to diversity: “ARN proudly employs several hundred staff across Australia of diverse backgrounds, including from the disability sector.”

These are the same employees who are now being mocked on-air, even after they’ve quit.