Eddie McGuire reveals the moment on air that changed his life
Eddie McGuire has revealed his only regret from his time on radio as he gets set to quit Triple M Hot Breakfast, saying “it was a moment that changed my life”.
Confidential
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Eddie McGuire says his biggest radio show regret was not hitting the dump button after making an offensive comment about AFL legend Adam Goodes.
As Triple M Hot Breakfast co-hosts McGuire and Luke Darcy edge towards their last day on air, after announcing on Wednesday they will quit the popular radio show on November 27, McGuire reflected on the highs and lows of life behind the microphone.
He and Darcy have helmed Triple M Hot Breakfast for 11 years.
In 2013, on his radio show, McGuire said Goodes should be used to promote the musical King Kong. The comments came days after Goodes was racially abused by a football fan, who called him an ape.
McGuire apologised several times after making the comment.
“The only regret I’ve had over this time (on the Hot Breakfast show) is no-one hit the dump button because it was … completely the opposite of what I was thinking,” McGuire said.
In radio, a dump button stops the broadcast going to air.
“Immediately after (McGuire made the comment), (Darcy) reacted, and I was, ‘What’s he on about?’ I went outside (the studio), listened to it back, came straight back and apologised, and I’ve spent the rest of my life apologising for it.
“I was trying to make a point — and badly — that this was something that would have happened in the old days, and here we are now,” McGuire said.
“Talking about a person of colour and referring to him as an ape was a travesty. But if you could say something and mean the exact opposite, that was the occasion.
“Again, to be perfectly honest, it was a result of being completely overtired. I don’t want to do broadcasting to hurt people.
“It was the anathema to everything I stand for,” McGuire said.
“The irony was, I was on (the radio show) that morning, exhausted, having been out the night before raising funds for Indigenous (football) scholarships.”
McGuire said: “It was a powerful lesson. It was a moment that changed my life, and had a massive impact on me, but also on Adam.
“I had some severe blowback on me, and yet I felt I got just a taste of what Indigenous and black people feel on a daily basis when something that’s not meant to happen wounds deeply.”
Darcy said the incident marked “a challenging time”.
Darcy said: “In the ad break, I turned to Ed and said, Mate that’s not come out the way it was meant to.’
“You couldn’t get a more polar opposite response to what was intended. You don’t need to stand up for the character of the man I’ve sat next to for 11 years, especially his work, and his love of everything to do with AFL, and the indigenous history of our game,” Darcy said.
“It was heartbreaking to see it from Adam’s point of view, it was heartbreaking to sit next to Ed, knowing the intent wasn’t there for that to be the case.”
Darcy added: “Part of the culture I don’t enjoy — and it’s the term of 2020 — is this idea that you want to cancel someone out of existence.
“It’s an awful part of our culture. I saw it firsthand, and it was not great.”
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