The 3pm call that ended Sam’s 35-year career with Channel 9

After 35 years on Channel 9, Footy Show host Sam Newman received a phone call from his boss that would end his decades-long stint as the “master of live television”. Here he reveals what really went down.

It was a brief phone conversation on the side of an inner Melbourne road that brought to an end Sam Newman’s three-decade career with Channel 9.

Newman and Nine mutually agreed to part ways late Friday after a storm of outrage over his podcast comments about George Floyd — the man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis.

Newman had described Floyd as “a piece of s--t and a “crackhead” on his You Can’t Be Serious podcast.

The comments were made about Floyd’s criminal record, while Newman expressed disgust about the actions of the US police that led to his death.

He refused to back away from those comments on Saturday.

Sam Newman is leaving Channel 9. Picture: Nicole Cleary

“How in God’s name could you say that was controversial what I said about him,” Newman said.

“Maybe the language, but when you are talking on a podcast to two other people you tend to use that sort of extravagant language. I could have easily said, and probably should have if I had known it was going to be reported verbatim, that he is of unsavoury character.

“The point is why are making a martyr out of George Floyd, we should be condemning the police brutality.

“What I said about him is absolutely accurate.”

The former Footy Show star’s questioning of whether AFL players understood the origins of taking a knee also created backlash.

The end of Newman’s career with Nine came just after 3pm on Friday when he was called by the network’s Director of Sport, Brent Williams, while he was driving.

George Floyd. Picture: Offices of Ben Crump Law

He was not given an ultimatum nor asked to stop using Twitter nor to cease his podcast.

“The station rang me and said: ‘We are getting a bit of blow back from some of your comments’ and I said: ‘Well, I don’t want to put the station in an invidious position, anymore than I have in the past’,” Newman said.

“I said: ‘I am very happy, if it will solve anything for you, very happy to withdraw forthwith from appearing on the network.’

“They said: ‘Well, that would be absolutely acceptable and would be a good way to resolve the matter.’

“Whether I beat them to it or they were going to say that anyhow is irrelevant.

“I had a very amicable and pleasant conversation with them and they have been a terrific employer over my journey, so it was a pretty quick and simple conversation about how we could move on.”

Newman, whose contract with the network was to expire at the end of 2020 and who had made just one appearance on The Sunday Footy Show this year, said his parting of ways with Nine had been brewing for some time.

“It was not unexpected if you are going to have an opinion about things that are out in the public arena and some would view controversial and yet most would think are absolutely reasonable,” he said.

“I have had a fantastic relationship with Nine.

“This was probably in the wind five years ago when they got a bit jumpy about (his Footy Show segment) Street Talk in this politically correct, woke age, we are living in.”

While he has departed Nine, Newman is not being silenced.

He will continue his You Can’t Be Serious podcast with Don Scott and Mike Sheahan.

“People should be tuning in because what we are talking about is in the public interest,” he said.

“Many people don’t agree with what we say, but a hell of a lot do.”

Nine described Newman as a “master of live television.”

“We thank Sam for his service with Nine over several decades. His contribution to The Footy Show was paramount to the enormous ratings success the show enjoyed over many years,” a spokesperson said.

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