Eddie McGuire furore: Sam Newman tells Caroline Wilson ‘the jig’s up’

LATEST: TIM Watson says there’s an “element of truth” in Sam Newman’s extraordinary spray on The Footy Show, following Eddie McGuire’s drowning “joke”.

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LATEST: LATEST: TIM Watson says there’s an “element of truth” in Sam Newman’s extraordinary spray on The Footy Show, following Eddie McGuire’s drowning “joke” about journalist Caroline Wilson.

It comes in the wake of Newman siding with his mates on the heavily discussed comments, telling veteran journalist Wilson that she is “becoming an embarrassment” and “the jig’s up”.

But co-host Rebecca Maddern also weighed into the Triple M segmnet, stating it “did make me feel uncomfortable as a woman”.

Sam Newman and Eddie McGuire at The Footy Show’s 21st birthday. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis

The Footy Show's Rebecca Maddern with James Brayshaw and Sam Newman.

Channel 9’s The Footy Show dedicated 10 minutes to the now-infamous joke, where Collingwood President Eddie McGuire offered $50k for journalist Caroline Wilson to stay under a pool of ice water.

Newman, who stressed he wanted to be “fair and balanced”, made no mention of McGuire’s “black widow” comment towards Wilson.

Instead, he claimed the furore had “turned into a vendetta against personalities” and had “got completely away from where it started”.

He called on Wilson not to “complain” when she was treated equally.

“Now, you can understand if you’re going to want to be equal and treated equally the point is don’t complain when it’s too equal,” he said.

”The jig’s up Caro, honestly and truly. You are becoming an embarrassment. Even if you were under water you’d still be talking.”

Maddern said she believed language was the first step towards ridding society “of those evils” including domestic violence, violence against women and bullying.

“Because the spoken word and the people who hear it, the spoken word is very, very powerful,” she said.

But Maddern said she knew McGuire and Frawley were “two good men”.

“These men made a mistake, they acknowledged they made a mistake and they apologised,” Maddern said.

“We now need to move forward in a positive way”

The Number 1 Geelong Cats ticket holder said she “would have been pretty upset” had she been the subject of the joke.

Newman also got a lukewarm reception from his co-hosts, particularly James Brayshaw, who was part of the Triple M team that had already apologised for the joke.

“You are entitled to your opinion Sam. I don’t agree with, certainly, that last bit,” Brayshaw said.

“Some of the language used in that 30-second segment was off the pace, and for that reason, it was absolutely appropriate that we apologise.

“Offence was taken and I can understand why.”

Speaking on radio station 3AW this morning, Newman denied Channel 9 had asked him not to address the McGuire-Wilson controversy on the show.

“Not at all,” said Newman, at the end of an interview about his interest in running for Lord Mayor of Melbourne.

“I don’t think Channel 9 would ask me or anyone else not to have a discussion about something that’s at the forefront of the national media.”

‘Elements of truth’ in Newman spray: Tim Watson

Essendon legend Tim Watson says the furore is partly as result of involving high-profile figure Eddie McGuire.

But AFL great and Channel 7 commentator Tim Watson agreed with Newman’s point about some parties using the situation to attack McGuire.

“I guess we all expected at some stage Sam would come out and have his say and I don’t think it surprised anybody by what he said,” Watson told SEN Breakfast with Frank and Ox.

“I think there is an element of truth in what he is saying, because we had this conversation at work yesterday about the fact then when somebody as high profile as Eddie says what he did or is part of a story like this ... I don’t think it would maybe be as big a story had it not been anybody else that said what Eddie did.

“I think everybody then seizes on the opportunity if they don’t like somebody to pile in on top of them, and whack them and kick them to death.

“What we are talking about is Eddie McGuire, as opposed to what he said and the message of it. That’s exactly what happened and Sam alluded to that last night.”

McGuire has reportedly personally apologised to Wilson, and he sat out Fox Footy’s Thursday night AFL coverage.

Triple M belatedly apologised for the controversy after the AFL expressed support for a boycott of the radio station by Richmond players.

The radio station says it will try to make amends by donating its on-field digital signage space from this weekend’s AFL games to White Ribbon, a charity combatting violence against women.

The apology and pledge came after a public outcry which has lasted all week in the wake of McGuire, James Brayshaw and Danny Frawley’s disparaging on-air remarks about Wilson.

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