Lisa Wilkinson contacted Waleed Aly after awkward ‘tan’ gaffe on ‘Today’

WALEED Aly has revealed that Lisa Wilkinson reached out to him to explain a comment she made on the Today show about the Logie nominations.

WALEED Aly has revealed that Lisa Wilkinson reached out to him to explain an awkward gag that was made at his expense on the Today show.

On the morning after the Logie nominations were announced last month, Karl Stefanovic and Ben Fordham discussed the contenders on the Channel Nine breakfast show.

“Where is Lisa Wilkinson’s Gold Logie?” Fordham asked.

“I think it’s very clear, Lisa’s too white,” Stefanovic joked.

Wilkinson then chimed in with, “I got a spray tan and everything, still didn’t make it”.

Aly, who has been nominated for the Gold Logie, was asked about the incident during an interview with Kiis FM’s Matt Tilley and Meshel Laurie this morning.

“I’m not going to bite,” The Project host said.

Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson host Today on Channel Nine.

Matt Tilley said: “I read it as basically saying, ‘Oh they’re making a token gesture towards people like Waleed and Lee Lin (Chin) to embrace the multicultural nature of TV these days’.”

“That’s clearly the subtext,” Aly said.

“But I think what happened was, it was one of those bantery things that just went wrong and Karl threw in a comment that other people were not expecting”.

The 37-year-old TV star doesn’t think Wilkinson heard Stefanovic’s comment and he revealed that the Today co-host later made contact to clarify what happened.

“She texted me and then we spoke a few days later,” Aly said.

“So you cleared the air with Lisa?” Laurie asked.

“I really like Lisa and she’s also been incredibly effusive about me in the past,” Aly said, adding, “We’ve only met once before.”

“I think she (Lisa Wilkinson) felt that it just didn’t represent who she was,” Aly said when asked what Wilkinson said during the conversation.

Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore are both up for the Gold Logie this year. Picture: Julian Kingma

“So you’re happy to just put it up there as a gaffe?” Tilley asked.

“Yeah I think so,” replied Aly.

“Especially when I spoke to her (Lisa Wilkinson) about what was actually going on behind the scenes, because as I recall ... wasn’t she in a separate studio? I don’t think she was listening. I reckon she was doing some other thing, heard them mention her name and just went, ‘Oh I’d better say something’.”

Aly has been nominated for a Gold Logie and is up against last year’s winner Carrie Bickmore, Scott Cam, Lee Lin Chin, Essie Davis and Grant Denyer.

The 58th Logie Awards will be presented at Crown’s Palladium Room in Melbourne on Sunday. You can check out the full list of nominees here.

Waleed Aly and his beautiful wife Susan Carland at the GQ Men of the Year Awards.

Originally published as Lisa Wilkinson contacted Waleed Aly after awkward ‘tan’ gaffe on ‘Today’