Guy Sebastian’s months-long battle in the spotlight

It’s been a bad week for The Voice judge Guy Sebastian, who has suffered one controversy after another over the past 18 months.

During his almost 20 years in the public eye, Guy Sebastian has enjoyed a relatively controversy-free life.

But that has imploded in the last few months, coming to a head this week when he copped a wave of backlash after distancing himself from a pro-vaccination campaign.

The Voice judge, 39, posted an apology video winding back his support of the music industry-led campaign #VaxTheNation, prompting many to accuse him of fuelling the anti-vaxxer movement.

Sebastian claimed that his earlier since-deleted Instagram post promoting the campaign had been shared without his “direct involvement” and that he “would never, ever tell people what to do when it comes to their personal health choices”.

An apology video posted by Guy Sebastian distancing himself from a pro-vaccination campaign has been slammed this week. Picture: Instagram

The apology was widely criticised by many people, including a number of his industry peers who said they felt “disappointed” by his actions.

Things got even uglier when Sebastian called into Ray Hadley’s 2GB program on Tuesday in an interview that quickly went sour.

“I’m very disappointed in you, to tell you the truth,” said Hadley, who had earlier in the day urged Sebastian to “get the splinters out of your arse; get off the fence”.

In the months prior to this week’s saga, Sebastian had suffered a string of public controversies, including backtracking on bombshell comments he made about The Voice coaches being told by producers when to turn their chairs, and fronting a bungled arts rescue package involving Prime Minister Scott Morrison which he also later distanced himself from.

Guy Sebastian and Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a $250 million support package for the arts and cultural sectors to assist in economic recovery from the pandemic in June 2020. Picture: Matt Blyth/Getty Images

Guy backtracks on ScoMo photo opp

In what was labelled a “career-damaging move”, Sebastian stood alongside Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a press conference in June last year to announce an arts rescue package.

Sebastian’s support of the $250 million package saw him accused of losing touch with the bulk of the industry, which has struggled immensely throughout the pandemic.

Most of the anger was that Sebastian, a “highly-paid (former) Channel 9 employee”, was chosen to represent the arts in Australia, while industry figures claimed the money simply wasn’t enough to get the sector off its knees – something they felt Sebastian should have known.

In the following months, the package was again criticised for its poor rollout and the government’s failure to allocate money where it was most needed.

Following the criticism, an “embarrassed” Sebastian distanced himself from the stunt, saying he was “used as a prop” to promote the relief package.

“I’d rung all my muso friends, asked for their suggestions, and I relayed them on a Zoom call to the Prime Minister,” Sebastian told the Herald Sun.

“I’ve asked for updates but no one seems to have followed through on their words or had any plans for insurance for people putting on musicals or concerts. It’s not working, obviously.

“I copped it, because I was trying to support something I believed would make a difference. And it hasn’t, so that’s on me.

“I made that decision, I’ll cop it, that’s fair enough. But it doesn’t mean I agree with how it’s been rolled out, I think it’s dismal.

“I’m embarrassed that I was used as a prop to push something that to be honest they haven’t done the due diligence on to make sure it’s actually getting to the people that need it. It was just a box that was ticked.”

Guy Sebastian on this season of The Voice.

The Voice rigged scandal

In an interview promoting The Voice in August, Sebastian told Yahoo! that the coaches were told who to turn their chairs for during the blind auditions, which he, again, later backtracked on.

“They don’t want the show to be all one-chair turns for some of the artists. You want the artist to feel like there are two coaches fighting over them, otherwise, how do you make a good segment out of that? It’s just literally, ‘Oh Keith is the only one that turned, so you’re stuck with Keith’,” Sebastian said.

“So there are little things the producer will write in, stuff like, ‘If this is just a one-chair turn, maybe jump in.’”

Days later, posting a comment on Facebook beneath a story with the headline ‘The Voice judge Guy Sebastian reveals producers tell them when to turn’, Sebastian set the record straight.

“Only problem is this headline is completely false,” the musician began.

“We are only given reminders of the different format changes. For example, this year there are unlimited chair turns instead of 12 spots, which means if we are on the fence we don’t need to be selective,” he reiterated.

“Obviously it’s way better to give the artist a choice and to battle it out with another coach than to default to only one coach who turns.”

He added, “Even when artists don’t get a chair turn, we make sure it’s a positive experience by giving feedback, or joining them on stage [for] a duet, etc. to make sure they don’t go home feeling like it was a failure.

“Clickbait false headlines undermine that. I have never once been told who to turn my chair for.”

Originally published as Guy Sebastian’s months-long battle in the spotlight