The ABC’s ham(ster) fisted apology to The Australian’s Chris Kenny

ABC boss Mark Scott’s apology to a journalist depicted having sex with a dog was undermined by The Chaser.

ABC boss Mark Scott’s seven-month-late apology to a News Corp journalist depicted having sex with a dog in a televised Chaser episode was undermined yesterday when the comedy team tweeted an image of Mr Scott in a similarly compromised position with a giant hamster.

Mr Scott issued an apology to The Australian’s Chris Kenny for a photoshopped segment on The Hamster Decides broadcast last September that depicted him engaging in bestiality.

However, it is unclear whether the move will mean the end of a legal fight over the image, with Mr Kenny only saying he would instruct his lawyers to settle the matter while Chaser executive producer Julian Morrow — who tweeted yesterday’s image of Mr Scott — said he had no intention of backing down.

The Daily Telegraph has chosen to not identify the hamster in the picture below.

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“I have come to the view with the director of television that the ABC should not have put the skit to air,” Mr Scott said yesterday morning.

But the apology was ridiculed by Mr Morrow’s tweet, which bore the caption: “We respectfully disagree with the ABC managing director’s decision and statement today.”

Far from being offended by the tweet, an ABC spokesman said: “Mark laughed it off.”

The original photoshopped image of Mr Kenny having sex with a dog is the subject of a defamation action and a separate investigation by The Australian Communications and Media Authority, which is still reviewing the complaint.

Mr Kenny said: “It’s taken seven months but I was pleased to finally get a call and an apology from Mark Scott today. I have instructed my lawyers to try to settle this matter as soon as possible.”

But Mr Morrow said his production company Giant Dwarf and presenter Andrew Hansen had no intention of stepping back from the legal fight.

“We are not taking any steps to settle the legal action. If the ABC wants to then that’s a matter for it. Chris has always said that what he wanted was an apology from Mark Scott so now you would expect he would withdraw the action,” he said.

Yesterday former ABC chairman Maurice Newman told The Australian the broadcast was “unwarranted” and it was “astonishing” there had been no apology.

Mr Scott said: “While I had been waiting for internal and ACMA review processes to be completed before issuing this statement, I now believe that was a mistake and I regret the delay in making this apology.”

“While Mr Kenny is a strong and persistent critic of the ABC, and can expect to be a subject of satire, the depiction of him was very strong in the context of the satirical point attempted,” Mr Scott said.

“As a consequence, I would like to apologise to Mr Kenny for the ABC having put the skit to air, his depiction in the skit and because it was triggered by his criticism of the ABC.’’

Mr Kenny was given the green light to proceed with his defamation case against the ABC at a preliminary hearing in the NSW Supreme Court.

Justice Beech-Jones described the depiction of him having sex with a dog as “a massive exercise in ridicule which is vastly out of proportion”.