Underfire Nine boss takes leave following ‘drunk’ sext scandal
Nine's A Current Affair boss has taken leave after making sexually suggestive comments about Jimmy Barnes and boasting about getting drunk at TV's night of nights.
The boss of Nine’s highest rating news and current affairs program has taken personal leave following revelations she made crass comments about getting intoxicated and having sex with one of the performers at the TV Week Logie Awards.
Staff at Nine’s A Current Affair program were informed their executive producer, Amy McCarthy, had made the decision to take some time away from work during discussions with network executives on Monday afternoon.
The meeting with McCarthy was convened after The Australian’s Media Diary revealed a number of social media posts she made during the television industry awards night had raised concerns among colleagues.
In one message, McCarthy informed her followers on social media that she had arrived at the awards night and was preparing to get “drunk”. “I can get drunk now. You thought you’d been spammed before!! Standby!!” McCarthy said.
The news veteran later updated her post, saying “Luckily my phone died before any evidence could be recorded.”
She decided it was also appropriate to post a picture of Cold Chisel frontman Jimmy Barnes singing at the event alongside a note declaring the 69-year-old rocker “deserves a spot on the grid! #wouldstilldohim”.
Screenshots of the comments had been widely circulated through the network’s Sydney newsroom following the awards night at Star casino, where the show’s host, Ally Langdon, won the Logie for most popular public affairs presenter.
Staff at Nine’s Denison Street headquarters said the comments were out of step with Nine’s drawn-out cultural review, and came just days out from the latest update on the “cultural transition” last Thursday.
“Imagine if a male news boss had made comments like that about a female singer like Delta Goodrem – it’s totally inappropriate,” one staffer said.
Sources said McCarthy initially tried to make light of the news coverage concerning her posts after arriving at work on Monday morning, before culling “pretty much every one” of her Nine colleagues from her Facebook account.
McCarthy was called to a meeting with network executives, including national news boss Fiona Dear, about 2pm but did not return to her office.
Instead, Dear’s personal assistant was sent to the A Current Affair newsroom to collect McCarthy’s personal effects for the day and inform staff she would not be returning for the rest of the week. Sources said staff at the nightly news show were already openly wondering whether McCarthy would return to the program at the end of her run of leave.
The revelations about McCarthy’s posts came as Today show host Karl Stefanovic told Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper that the Logie awards night had become stiff and boring. The breakfast show presenter, who famously appeared on the Today show somewhat the worse for wear the morning after attending the 2009 awards, said more light-hearted fun needed to be injected into the ceremony before it became too “woke” and “beige”.
“They have got a bit woke, the Logies, haven’t they,” Stefanovic, who won the Gold Logie in 2011, said “Everyone is a bit conscious of doing the wrong thing, and that is TV in general.
“Bring back drunk biffo buffoonery. I do love it (the Logies). I do think it runs the risk of being beige if there is not a bit of tomfoolery. You just have to have a good time. What is wrong with the world?”
McCarthy’s decision to take leave comes a week after A Current Affair was excoriated by a judge for broadcasting a report about “Outback Wrangler” Matt Wright on the eve of his criminal trial. The TV star has pleaded not guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice following the chopper crash death of his co-star Chris Wilson. However, Northern Territory Supreme Court judge Alan Blow said the ACA story “was aimed to suggest that Mr Wright is guilty of something” and threatened to have the trial aborted.
