‘You’re a f***head’: Good Samaritan accused of deflating footy great Rex Hunt’s tyre

Drama played out at an event aiming to raise mental health awareness on Sunday night when footy media great Rex Hunt failed to invite a good Samaritan on stage as promised.

Rex Hunt’s night did not go as planned when he stepped out in a rare appearance to raise mental health awareness. Picture: Michelle Winters

Footy media great Rex Hunt’s car was allegedly vandalised while he appeared at an event supporting mental health awareness.

Police were called after a tyre on Hunt’s car was allegedly let down while he was on stage at the Venetto Club in Bulleen on Sunday night, following a heckler being asked to leave the venue.

Hunt, 74, who revealed in May that he suffers from bipolar depression, was appearing at a dinner which raised awareness about men’s mental health issues and the support available with Sam Newman.

It was a rare appearance on stage for Hunt who suffered a mental health crisis in January and spent seven weeks in the Victoria Clinic in Prahran recovering.

His health remains fragile.

Rex Hunt in the 3AW studio with his golden retriever, Jack.

According to Newman, the evening took an unexpected turn when a man, who had been invited to the event by Hunt, was asked to leave the venue part way through the show after swearing at Newman and trying to join Hunt on stage.

Hunt later exchanged angry words with the man in the venue’s carpark when he went out to get his whippet, Mister, out of his car.

Hunt brought the dog on stage several times during the evening.

It was subsequently discovered that one of the tyres on Hunt’s vehicle had been let down.

Newman said the drama stemmed from Hunt having car problems the day before.

“The day before Rex had got a flat tyre and some blokes in the pouring rain stopped to help change his tyre,” Newman said on his You Cannot Be Serious podcast.

Rex Hunt and Sam Newman. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Hunt invited the men to the show as his guests as a thank you and promised to invite one of them on stage.

“One of blokes in the end thought he was not going to get a mention and said (from the audience), ‘Good on you Rex’, and Rex gave him short shrift and then the bloke got the sh*ts nicely,“ Newman said.

“I am standing there doing my little stuff and I see this guy at the corner of the stage and he said, ‘You’re a f**khead’.”

Security quickly asked the man to leave.

Newman described the night as “extraordinary” as Hunt covered various moments of his life from his time in the police force, playing footy and his long media career.

“People could not get enough of him, they were gobsmacked. If people weren’t entertained by that, I don’t know what would entertain them.”