Radio veteran Jeremy Cordeaux sacked by FIVEaa after calling Brittany Higgins ‘a silly little girl who got drunk’

Sacked radio veteran Jeremy Cordeaux has hit back at the “over-reaction” to his comments – as new audio reveals he said an alleged rape victim “should have her bottom smacked”.

Adelaide radio veteran Jeremy Cordeaux has been sacked by FIVEaa following comments on the weekend about the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins.

But despite the announcement being made on air by the station’s breakfast host (and Advertiser columnist) David Penberthy just after 7am on Monday, Cordeaux is yet to be officially told he is no longer welcome at the station.

It brings to an end an award-winning, nearly 60-year career in radio across Sydney and Adelaide that has included owning and managing stations as well as his on-air duties.

Speaking on Monday after the announcement, Cordeaux would not back down from his on-air comments about Ms Higgins – who says she was raped by a fellow staffer at Parliament House in Canberra – describing her as a “a silly little girl who got drunk”.

Cordeaux said he was “a little confused at what I would call an over-reaction”.

But Ms Higgins tweeted a new video of additional comments made on-air by Cordeaux, saying “she should have her bottom smacked”.

“I’m grateful to Nova and FIVEaa for standing up for the one in five Australian women who will experience sexual assault in their lifetime ... Instead of seeking to modify the behaviour of victims, let’s try to address how we can deter perpetrators of sexual crimes,” Ms Higgins said.

This rhetoric isn’t helpful especially given the cultural reckoning about consent that is taking place across the country.

Instead of seeking to modify the behaviour of victims, let’s try to address how we can deter perpetrators of sexual crimes.

(2/2)

— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) March 29, 2021

Reading the FIVEaa statement, Penberthy said: “Without reservation whatsoever, FIVEaa and Nova Entertainment sincerely apologise to Brittany Higgins for the comments made by Jeremy Cordeaux’s weekend breakfast show on Saturday morning.

“We acknowledge that the comments were completely inappropriate and offensive. The views expressed by Mr Cordeaux do not reflect those held by FIVEaa and Nova Entertainment and we unequivocally withdraw them. Mr Cordeaux’s employment has been terminated.”

Speaking about the alleged rape of Ms Higgins on his weekend breakfast show on Saturday, Mr Cordeaux said: “I just ask myself why the prime minister doesn’t call it out for what it is – a silly little girl who got drunk.”

“If this girl has been raped, why hasn’t the guy who raped her been arrested? Apparently everyone knows his name.”

In the additional comments revealed on Monday, Cordeaux said: “Now, why are we going through these machinations about this young woman? She should have her bottom smacked. Why in God’s name would she go out and get herself in that kind of compromising situation?”

Cordeaux, 75, is currently before the courts charged with drink driving for the second time in four years. He has indicated he will contest the charge of driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.056.

Jeremy Cordeaux at home on Monday after he was fired by FIVEaa. Picture: Matt Turner

Brittany Higgins speaks at the Canberra March4Justice rally. Picture: Jamila Toderas/Getty Images

“Security, you know, should never have let these two into the minister’s office at two o’clock in the morning. Never,” he continued in the Saturday broadcast.

“The Defence Minister. Can you imagine security taking someone who was obviously drunk, so drunk I think that the young lady, during the week on television, said she couldn’t get her shoes on.

“My advice to the Prime Minister – as he was sort of monstered by A Current Affair – my advice would be to stop worrying about offending somebody.”

Mr Cordeaux defended his on air comments on Monday and reiterated that he believed Ms Higgins should not have “put herself in harm’s way”.

“It’s basically what I would say to my own daughter, which is … men, and even some men that you know, are predators,” Mr Cordeaux said.

“You know, you have to live your life in such a way as to be self-protective, women in particular.”

He said he had a “clear vision” that being fired was a possibility after a late-night conversation with FIVEaa station manager Craig Munn on Sunday.

However, he said he was “surprised” to hear “that statement read out in that manner on the station by Penberthy” before being formally advised that he had been sacked.

“He who pays the piper calls the tune and they obviously have the right,” he said.

“I think in this particular case, and I’m not critical of Craig or the station, it probably came from Sydney for reasons that maybe, one day, I’ll find out about.

“I think if you’re a talk station – I’m not critical of them, I’ve enjoyed every minute there – but if you’re a talk station you’ve got to understand the territory.

“The genre of talk radio is not to be artificially contentious, but you have to have opinions. Some of those opinions are going to be controversial … but that’s the territory.”

Journalist Peter Ford, who was on air with Cordeaux during a segment later in the program, posted at statement to Twitter at 9.30am Monday morning saying he had called Ms Higgins “admirable” and he thought Cordeaux’s description of Ms Higgins was “crude and disrespectful”.

He said it wasn’t his place to offer an apology for what Cordeaux said.

“But I repeat I find Ms Higgins admirable and hope she gets justice and peace,” he tweeted.

“I will also miss working with this remarkable broadcaster who has been very supportive of me over the years.”

SA Best MLC Connie Bonaros and former Labor MP Kate Ellis both criticised Mr Cordeaux’s comments on Saturday.

“Brittany Higgins isn’t … a ‘silly little girl’,” Ms Bonaros said.

“She’s a grown woman who, in the face of her own worst nightmare, showed more courage than most of us would show in our lifetimes.

“Alcohol doesn’t cause rape, men cause rape. And attitudes like those expressed by Mr Cordeaux cause rape.”

Ms Ellis, who has written a book addressing the sexism she experienced in Federal Parliament, said: “This sort of garbage is one of the reasons so few survivors of sexual assault ever speak up and it is the kind of victim blaming that belongs in centuries past. I don’t want to hear these ignorant, incorrect and mean comments anywhere in our community, let alone broadcast on our radio stations.”

Originally published as Radio veteran Jeremy Cordeaux sacked by FIVEaa after calling Brittany Higgins ‘a silly little girl who got drunk’