Tom Morris sacked over leaked recording

Fox Footy journalist Tom Morris has apologised for the “disgusting and disgraceful” comments about a female colleague which cost the reporter his job.

Tom Morris has been sacked from his role at Fox Footy. Picture: Ian Currie

Disgraced former Fox Sports journalist Tom Morris on Friday night took to Twitter to make a formal apology and say he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions.

“I would like to unconditionally apologise to everyone for my disgusting and disgraceful comments, which became public yesterday. I am especially sorry to the person involved. No one should ever, in any place, or at any time, be spoken about in that way,” he tweeted.

“I am deeply ashamed at my behaviour. My comments were hurtful to many and I will now take the time to listen, learn and work to improve myself, ensuring that I become a better person. I am truly sorry to everyone.”

Morris was sacked after a recording of him making misogynistic comments about a female colleague was leaked online.

Melbourne great Garry Lyon acknowledged the Morris saga during the pregame Fox Footy broadcast of Friday night’s St Kilda vs Collingwood match.

“We’ve got to be better, we need to be better, and we need to continue to sell that message as well,” he said.

Lyon, alongside former Collingwood captain and coach Nathan Buckley and former St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, said “we’d just like to take the opportunity to say we support the decision arrived at today.”

“We understand and respect the standards and the values of everyone here at the Foxtel Group and we also want to acknowledge that we, on-air group, have a responsibility to live those values and not just pay lip service to them.”

“Most importantly in all this, and we mean this sincerely, there’s an innocent party that, through no fault of this person, finds herself under immense pressure and our thoughts are with this person tonight. That’s on behalf of us all here,” Lyon said.

The former Fox Sports journalist was told he no longer had a position at the network on Friday afternoon after an internal investigation was conducted.

A statement from Fox Sports on Friday confirmed Morris would not return to his employment following an investigation into an inappropriate WhatsApp audio recording.

Fox Sports executive director Steve Crawley said: “Our culture at Fox Sports is based on a respectful, inclusive environment and a fair go for all.

Morris was originally stood down and has now been sacked.

The leaked audio was shared by one of Morris’s friends.

“While Tom’s journalism has made a valuable contribution to Fox Sports over the past seven years, the message we became aware of yesterday crossed the line. It was unacceptable.

“We have the best in the business working at Fox Sports. We love what we do, and we have a reputation as a great place to work. The bottom line is we are committed to a work environment where everyone can come to work in the knowledge they are safe, respected and valued. We have zero-tolerance for anything less than that.”

Fox Sports said it would make no other comment on the matter for privacy reasons.

Morris was stood down on Thursday afternoon after offensive video and audio recordings surfaced.

I hope old mate has his liquor licence. Needs to keep job opportunities open.

— Darcy Vescio (@darcyvee) March 17, 2022

In the clips, Morris can be heard making a series of derogatory comments about a ­female colleague and disparaging women, Asians, black people and homosexuals.

Video has been circulated on social media of one voice message recorded in a Whats­App group featuring Morris making sexist comments about the female co-worker, which are too crude to publish.

Morris’s friends also made derogatory comments about the woman in the group chat.

The exchange is understood to have taken place late last year.

Not even going to watch the Tom Morris video, I’ve faced enough of this crap, face to face in this industry from men. About time we saw some accountability. A step towards women journalist and presenters being able to do their job and not having to put up with this daily crap!

— Shelley Ware (@ShelleyWare) March 17, 2022

AFL head honcho Gill McLachlan called out disparaging comments as “clearly unacceptable.”

While the AFL has not officially weighed in, league boss McLachlan said he had read the offensive comments.

“I’ve just seen them in written form and clearly the comments from my reading of them were clearly unacceptable and Fox Sports have taken action,” McLachlan said on Friday.

It is understood the female employee Morris singled out is intensely private and Fox Sports stood by her some years ago when offensive, sexist remarks were levelled at her by a leading sports figure from a different code.