Yumi Stynes slams Channel 10, leaves Project hosts stunned

Yumi Stynes appeared on The Project to discuss her controversial sex book and ended up calling out Network 10.

In an awkward on-air moment media personality Yumi Stynes called out Network 10 for not giving her paid work in recent years while appearing on 10’s The Project.

Stynes appeared on the show to discuss her controversial new book Welcome to Sex: Your no-silly-questions Guide to sexuality, pleasure and figuring it out.

The book has caused a stir, with some parents taking to social media to argue that the book, which features illustrations of female and male anatomy, is too graphic and is inappropriate for children.

Yumi has spoken out. Picture: Network 10

The book’s launch in major stores sparked outrage — with much of the vitriol directed Stynes’ way.

“I’ve seen kids on their own perusing the book section in Big W. Younger kids could easily ‘have a flick through’ this book. Why do they want to sexualise children? It doesn’t take Einstein to figure that one out,” someone wrote on social media.

The backlash became so big that retailer Big W has stripped it from its shelves in-store and is only selling it online.

.@yumichild gives parents advice on how to have the birds and the bees chat with their kids, and why it's not just one chat but an ongoing conversation. pic.twitter.com/nA9RESIkYu

— The Project (@theprojecttv) July 21, 2023

Stynes said on The Project that she “supported” the retailer over the decision because she didn’t want any minimum wage workers having to deal with abuse and summed up the situation as “whatever.”

Stynes did get fired up though when discussing intensity of the backlash and said that it had been “pretty rough.”

She also quickly pointed out that this wasn’t her first rodeo dealing with backlash that could impact her career.

She was on the circle in the early 2000s. Picture: Network 10

She’s also appeared on Studio 10. Picture: Studio 10

Styne ended up at the bottom of a hateful pile-on in 2012 after she implied that war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith was brainless.

At the time, Mr Roberts-Smith was hailed as a war hero and was Australia’s most decorated living soldier, and he was also considered a sex symbol.

When she was co-hosting 10’s now-defunct The Circle, a photo of Mr Roberts-Smith was shown shirtless and by the pool.

“’Hello! Look at that physique! He’s going to dive down to the bottom of the pool and see if his brain is there,’ she joked.

Yumi didn’t hold back on The Project. Picture: Network 10

The backlash was swift, and she apologised.

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to offend anybody, and I have total respect for people that work in the defence forces,” she said at the time.

Yet the damage was done and Stynes said she believes it is still the reason she’s “not on television anymore”.

Earlier this year, Roberts-Smith was disgraced after losing his defamation lawsuit against Nine’s The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times.

Justice Anthony Besanko ruled that the allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith, which include war crimes and murders, were proven to a civil standard of the balance of probabilities.

In her Project interview, Stynes pointed out that she was still dealing with the “real world consequences” from that fallout in 2012.

“Since that controversy around a comment I made around Ben Roberts-Smith, Channel 10 hasn’t given me one paid job aside some appearance on some show one time,” she said.

The Project hosts, which included Hamish McDonald and Georgie Tunny for Friday night, responded to Stynes’ claims by sitting there in shocked silence as she continued her tirade and neither disputed them.

Stynes went on to explain that the backlash online makes her worried as she goes about everyday life.

“There was a guy in the supermarket today while I was buying strawberries for my kids, and I kept checking over my shoulder, wondering if he was going to smack me over the back of the head, which is entirely possible,” she concluded.

McDonald ended the segment by telling Stynes to “take care.”