Sam Newman blasts Caroline Wilson over Eddie McGuire ‘joke’ furore

FOOTY Show presenter Sam Newman has inserted himself into the Eddie McGuire furore with some outrageous comments.

CONTROVERSIAL Footy Show presenter Sam Newman has inserted himself into the furore over Eddie McGuire’s drowning “joke”, telling its target Caroline Wilson “the jig’s up” and she’s “becoming an embarrassment”.

Channel 9’s Footy Show dedicated 10 minutes to a discussion of McGuire’s comments on Triple M, in which he offered $50,000 for Wilson to stay under a pool of ice water.

Newman, who stressed he wanted to be “fair and balanced”, claimed the controversy had “turned into a vendetta against personalities” and “got completely away from where it started”. Then he slammed Wilson.

“If you’re going to want to be treated equally, the point is, don’t complain when it’s too equal,” Newman said.

“The jig’s up Caro, honestly and truly. You’re becoming an embarrassment. And even if you were underwater, you’d still be talking.”

Sam Newman cut loose on The Footy Show last night.

Newman also took aim at the people who were outraged by McGuire’s comments, repeatedly labelling them “excrement”.

“People want a little bit of logic and a little bit of fairness,” he said.

“If you search for a cause to fit a narrative, eventually you’ll convince yourself that you’ve stumbled onto something, as most of the cowardly excrement have.

“Those excrement who have weighed into this — I’d like to mention their names, but as nobody reads or listens to them because they’re on second tier media outlets I won’t bother. But if you spray excrement with perfume or put aftershave on a piece of excrement, at the end of the day, it’s still a piece of excrement.”

Speaking on Melbourne radio station 3AW on Thursday 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 the City 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.”

The Footy Show’s studio audience reacted to Newman’s spray with whooping and applause, but the response on social media was very different.

Sam Newman has weighed in on Eddie McGuire, telling Caroline Wilson: "Even if you were underwater you'd still be talking".
Unbelievable.

— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) June 22, 2016

Wiping tears of hilarity after hearing that Sam Newman has accused Caro Wilson of "becoming an embarrassment". #ironyisdead

— Annabel Crabb (@annabelcrabb) June 22, 2016

It suits the world view of Sam Newman & co to view Caro, Goodes as 'precious'. Problem is neither said anything until events were way bigger

— Al Paton (@al_superfooty) June 22, 2016

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.”

Brayshaw was quick to back away from Newman’s spray.

Rebecca Maddern, meanwhile, added a much-needed female perspective to the discussion.

“I want to say, from my perspective, that when I heard this on the radio ... it did actually make me feel uncomfortable. As a woman. As a person. Take it however you like it,” she said.

“If it was said about me, I must admit, that I would have been pretty upset by it.”

Maddern said the language media figures choose to use is important, particularly if we “want to rid society of evils”.

“I think in the media, we have to be reminded that we are in a very privileged position. We have a voice. That voice is listened to by many people, and people absorb what we say. And in turn, because of that, we have a power to change the conversation and shape the public perception about certain issues,” she said.

Rebecca Maddern took a broader approach to the controversy.

“If we want big things to change in the community then we need to start with the small things. Whatever the issue is. Whether it’s domestic violence, whether it’s violence against women, whether it’s coward punches, whether it’s bullying. Attitudes need to be changed if we are to get, eventually, to the big things. And we want those things to change. We want to rid society of those evils.

“I believe the first step towards that is actually about language ... because the spoken word really is very, very powerful.

Maddern did go out of her way to defend the reputations of Eddie McGuire and his Triple M co-hosts — even finding some common ground with Newman.

“I do agree in part with Sam on this, that the men involved are all good men. I know how they feel about violence against women, and it’s exactly how I feel.

“These men made a mistake. They have acknowledged they made a mistake. They have apologised for that mistake, and that apology has been accepted. So we’re at a point now where all we can do is move forward. We need to move forward in a positive way.”

WATSON: ELEMENTS OF TRUTH IN NEWMAN SPRAY

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 eluded 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.

— with AAP