Veteran radio presenter Jeremy Cordeaux stands by Brittany Higgins slur

Veteran Adelaide radio presenter Jeremy Cordeaux has been sacked over comments he made about Brittany Higgins on air.

A veteran Adelaide radio presenter stands by his comments he made on air labelling Brittany Higgins a “silly little girl who got drunk”.

FIVEaa’s Jeremy Cordeaux caused controversy after he criticised Higgins during his Saturday morning breakfast show on FIVEaa.

But it wasn’t until late on Sunday night the 75-year-old received a call from the station’s program director Craig Munn sealing his fate.

“I thought in the beginning it was a joke,” he said.

“I went back to sleep knowing full well I was not going to be working at FIVEaa.

“I have always believed the employer has the right to hire and fire.”

Cordeaux was contacted by his employer on Monday afternoon and told they would be packing up his belongings in the station’s offices at Hindmarsh Square in Adelaide and couriering them to him.

He has been told he’s not welcome back in the building.

Cordeaux said on his Sunday morning program the station did not put any talkback calls to air after his comments were made the previous day but he has received plenty of support privately about what he said about the former political staffer.

“What I said wasn’t particularly controversial, are they not used to listening to large slabs of my program,” Cordeaux told The Australian.

“Being controversial is the stuff of talk radio and having an opinion.” 

On his Saturday morning breakfast program Cordeaux slammed Ms Higgins who spoke publicly about her alleged rape in Parliament House in Canberra.

“This Ms Higgins, Ms Higgins has been called a lightning rod and she’s been given an awful lot of power,” he said on air.

“Whether it’s been given to her by society, the media or a handful of journalists who feel they sway public opinion I don’t know but I just ask myself why the prime minister doesn’t call it out for what it is.

“A silly little girl who got drunk.”

Higgins responded on Twitter on Monday afternoon to the controversial comments.

“I’m grateful to NovaEntAU and 1395FIVEaa for standing up for the one in five Australian women who will experience sexual assault in their lifetime,” she wrote.

“I politely disagree Mr Cordeaux. No, I do not deserve to have my “bottom smacked”.

“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.”

I’m grateful to @NovaEntAU and @1395FIVEaa for standing up for the one in five Australian women who will experience sexual assault in their lifetime.

I politely disagree Mr Cordeaux. No, I do not deserve to have my “bottom smacked”. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/5MQqXWeXud

— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) March 29, 2021

Cordeaux also criticised on his program the security guards who allowed Higgins into Parliament House in Canberra on the night she was allegedly raped by a fellow staffer.

“Security you know should have never let these two into the Minister’s office at 2 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

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

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“What are they running there I wonder?”

He went on to say the Prime Minister was “monstered” by Nine Entertainment’s A Current Affair, when host Tracy Grimshaw grilled Scott Morrison over the ongoing issues that have rocked parliament in recent weeks.

Cordeaux also questioned if Higgins had been raped why the perpetrator hadn’t been arrested.

On air on Monday morning FIVEaa presenter David Penberthy delivered an apology.

“Without reservation whatsoever, FIVEaa and NOVA Entertainment sincerely apologise to Brittany Higgins for the comments made by Jeremy Cordeaux on FIVEaa’s weekend breakfast show on Saturday morning,” he said.

“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.”

He went on to announce that Cordeaux’s employment had been terminated.

“On behalf of all of us at FIVEaa and NOVA Entertainment, we apologise unreservedly to Ms Higgins,” Penberthy said.

The station also on Monday removed an online biography on the longstanding presenter that highlighted his award-winning career that spanned more than 40 years.