Australian Radio Host Offends with Death Camp Comments
Kyle Sandilands
Kyle Sandilands, co-host of The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Australian radio station 2DayFM, has been suspended from the radio waves for the second time in weeks following comments he made about actress, Magda Szubanski. Szubanski, known for her roles in Kath and Kim and Babe, became a spokesperson for weight loss program Jenny Craig after losing twenty five kilograms with the program. She has since graced the covers of magazines such as Women’s Weekly and appeared in ads for Jenny Craig as an icon for women struggling with weight issues.
However, controversial radio host Sandilands hit out at Szubanski this Tuesday, saying “She’s not skinny” and “You put her in a concentration camp and you watch the weight fall, like, she could be skinny.” Unsurprisingly, the radio host’s comments have caused outrage among Holocaust survivors and the general public.
Renee Geyer, a soul singer whose grandparents were murdered in a concentration camp, says that she finds Sandilands’ comments “very offensive and hurtful.” Jeremy Jones, a spokesman for Australian/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council says “There are people who confuse freedom of speech with gratuitous, insulting, offensive behaviour. They’re two quite different things.”
Szubanski herself, whose father hunted down Nazis during the Holocaust, says she couldn’t give “two hoots” about what Sandilands thinks of her and that to “trivialise what happened to people in concentration camps is abhorrent."
Sandilands has since apologised and a statement was released by Adam Lang, the general station manager, claiming that “the comments made by Kyle were unacceptable” and that 2DayFM “sincerely apologises and regrets any offense they caused.”
This controversy came mere weeks after Sandilands and co-host Jackie O were suspended on August 3 for two weeks following a lie detector stunt in which a 14-year-old girl revealed on live radio that she had been raped at age 12. Austereo, owner of 2DdayFM, lost advertisers over the stunt and Sandilands lost his judging position on reality show Australian Idol.
Although it has not yet been confirmed whether Sandilands will be allowed to return to his radio hosting job with 2DayFM following this latest outrage, any further association with the ‘shock jock’ would prove damaging to the company’s public image and reduce their number of listeners.
Co-host Jackie O were on air this Thursday with Dannii Minogue and Australian Idol’s Andrew G.
Sources:
News.com.au: Kyle and Jackie O Suspended Indefinitely
WAToday.com.au: Kyle and Jackie O Back on Air
Heraldsun.com.au: Kyle Sandilands Suspended From 2DayFM For Death Camp Comments
WAToday.com.au: Kyle’s Big Mouth in Nasty Relapse
WAToday.com.au: Sandilands Offends Szubanski with ‘Concentration Camp’ Slur
Samesame.com.au: Kyle Sandilands Suspended Again
The Daily Telegraph: Kyle Sandilands Suspended
Couriermail.com.au: Sandilands Apologises for Magda Gaffe
The Punch: Kyle: The End
