Defiant Kyle Sandilands vows not to bow to a woke world

Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands makes an apology of sorts after two major advertisers moved to distance themselves from the FM king’s foul mouth. Listen to what he had to say.

KIIS FM parent company ARN has apologised for “everyone impacted” by breakfast host Kyle Sandilands’ offensive rant in which he labelled colleagues “spazzes”.

More than a week after the extraordinary spray and with following mounting pressure from advertisers, the radio broadcaster said it did not endorse Sandilands comment.

“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 has vowed not to change ‘(for) the woke world’. Picture: Justin Lloyd

The original blow up was sparked by Sandilands’ outrage that the show had not received more publicity heralding the most recent radio ratings in which KIIS placed second overall in breakfast with a 12.8 per cent audience share behind 2GB host Ben Fordham with a 16.9 per cent share.

At the time he labelled his bosses and colleagues “spazzes”, “losers”, “flops” and “absolute a … holes”. Sandilands also hit out at Fordham and labelled his listeners as “just dead in a wheelchair, they just sit there like dumb fibreglass-looking fake people”.

Jackie O said her co-host ‘didn’t think before he spoke sometimes’.

On air today with co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, Sandilands vowed however not to change.

“I’m never going to change. I’m still not changing (for) the woke world,” he said.

Earlier, Sandilands said: “When I was in a tirade and I’m mouthing off and screaming and carrying on at the fools that I am surrounded with here, I have used some filthy language and some derogatory archaic terms.

“Sometimes people say things when they are pissed off and yeah, I didn’t even know I had said it until I read it in the newspaper because the one thing you can rely on the newspaper people for is to be totally hypocritical about how they live and behave in their own lives and how they expect everyone else to behave.

“So yeah, if you are offended by any of those words, I am sorry about that. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I like to make people feel fun and relaxed and happy and safe, that is what I like.”

Henderson claimed Sandilands didn’t “think before you speak sometimes”.

Parts of the apology were beeped out as Sandilands took aim at The Daily Telegraph for covering the story while indicating he had “stuff” on “some of the journalists”.

The apology came after two top advertisers, Bunnings and TPG Telecom (parent company of Vodafone), said they were reviewing their advertising spend with KIIS FM following Sandilands offensive rant.

Other advertisers contacted though did not comment, including Jetstar, McDonald’s, Coles, Woolworths, Vittoria Coffee, Kia, Uber, and Telstra.

Doubling down and seemingly retracting his apology, Sandilands said: “I apologise to all of those clients being bombarded by pesky journalists trying to shit stir up something that is not even a real problem.”

Ray Hadley criticised Sandilands for his choice of word. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Talkback host Ray Hadley meanwhile was among those that criticised Sandilands for his choice of word, specifically the “spazzes” comment, after himself many years ago being called out for using the term.

Prominent disability advocate Hannah Diviney and Mandy Maysey, president of the Tourette Syndrome Association of Australia, were also critical of the shock jock.

Diviney has made international headlines this year for calling out pop superstars Beyonce and Lizzo for their use of the word ‘spaz’ in song lyrics. They subsequently changed the lyrics.

She previously made a formal complaint to ARN when Sandilands likened the athletic performance of our Tokyo Paralympians to “sausages”.

“Have you been watching the special Olympics (sic), it is horrific some of the things,” he said last year on air. “I saw some poor bloke who ran for the high jump and veered right because he was blind and landed on his arse, on the ground. “Then when they were playing soccer, the blind people, I was thinking, are you joking? They’re throwing themselves on the ground like sausages to block the ball.”