David Koch reveals text message from Today rival Karl Stefanovic

David Koch has spoken about the support he received after announcing his departure from Sunrise, including a text from his Today rival.

David Koch revealed he was heckled on the street in Sydney after his Sunrise announcement on Monday.

David Koch has revealed a nasty encounter with a person in the street after announcing he was leaving Sunrise on Monday.

The 67-year-old TV veteran, whose will wrap up 21 years on the breakfast show with his final farewell on June 9, thanked his colleagues and viewers for the “unbelievable” outpouring of love in the wake of his announcement.

But he suffered an unfortunate incident in Sydney after yesterday’s show, where he was heckled by a man while walking with his wife, Libby.

“In all of that lovely euphoria, this is just life, I’m walking to lunch with Lib and walked by a bloke and he goes, ‘I’m glad you’re resigning, you are just a paid mouthpiece for Big Pharma’,” Koch said.

“An anti-vaxxer. He started yelling at me across the road. Lib’s going ‘What the hell?’.”

Koch’s co-host Natalie Barr said, “We take the good with the bad, and we know that.”

Speaking to news.com.au yesterday, Koch said after decades in the game, he was content with not pleasing everybody.

“Yes, we all have faults. I’ve stuffed up and people love me or hate me, but what they see is what they get, and I think they respect that even if they disagree with your views,” he said.

“It’s a really intimate relationship with the viewers.”

Despite the ugly incident on the street, Koch chose to focus on the positive, revealing one of the nicest messages came from his brekky TV ‘rival’, Today’s Karl Stefanovic.

“A wonderful, classy, respectful [message] from Karl Stefanovic was so nice, really adored that one,” he said on-air.

“But so many great messages.”

David Koch is bowing out of the breakfast TV game after over two decades. Picture: Channel 7

As for who his replacement will be, it’s understood Seven will announce a new host on Monday.

Matt Shirvington and Matt Doran are the frontrunners to step in, while Dr Chris Brown’s name has also been flagged after he recently signed with Channel 7.

Koch, who is chairman of the Port Adelaide Football Club, said he had been involved in discussions, but refrained from dropping names.

“I’ve spoken to the list managers and I’ll leave it up with them,” Koch said, using a sport term to describe the process.

“The AFL clubs have list managers where they put the team together. So I will leave it to them to work out who will fit in, but it’s time to bring a new generation through to the midfield.”

Originally published as David Koch reveals text message from Today rival Karl Stefanovic