Joe Hildebrand: Why firing Katie Hopkins is a stroke of PR genius

The deportation of far-right commentator Katie Hopkins has proved to be a coup for Seven in more ways than one, says Joe Hildebrand.

Right-wing firebrand and racist nutter Katie Hopkins may have been deported from Australia but it is not enough.

Whoever made the decision to hire her to go on Channel 7’s Big Brother VIP needs to get their just desserts.

They must be immediately identified, summoned to a high-level meeting with senior executives and be given the treatment they deserve.

This, if justice is truly to be served, would be an instant promotion, a $20,000 bonus
and an all-expenses-paid trip to Port Douglas – because they just pulled off the PR coup of the decade.

Katie Hopkins took to Instagram Live to criticise harsh lockdowns in Australia.

I thought the casting of Schapelle Corby in SAS Australia was a stroke of genius but Katie’s quarantine quagmire is next level.

For one thing Schapelle actually appeared on her show and therefore still had to get paid. Hopkins has been sent packing without so much as a “pleased to meet you” and, we may confidently assume, no further costs incurred beyond that of her return airfare.

The Australian’s Media section, which every journo, broadcaster and producer rips through the business pages to find, reported on Monday that Big Brother was the most talked about TV show in the country between January and July behind the ABC’s Four Corners.

Given Four Corners had thrust itself into a borderline extinction-level event in which its entire purpose was thrown into question over its dubious expose of historic rape allegations against a cabinet minister, you’d have to say that the Big Brother approach was somewhat more finessed.

I would also hazard a guess that of the 829 media mentions of Big Brother between January and July the best part of 800 of them probably occurred in the week that Katie Hopkins was in the country.

Now poor old Katie won’t even be on the show, and indeed the carefully crafted statement from Seven and production company Endemol Shine never actually confirmed she was going to be on the show.

But the whole shebang means we sure as hell all know about the show. And that means you can bet your backside Big Brother won’t be the only one watching.

Joe Hildebrand is on 2GB Nights with John Stanley on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8pm