Tears, sex toys and slurs: A month on the Kyle Sandilands show

This story contains language that some readers may find offensive and describes explicit sexual acts.

Kyle Sandilands has reduced one of his co-presenters to tears during a live broadcast, aired a segment that used a racial slur to refer to a woman who had sex with one of his staff in a toilet cubical, and questioned his female employees about their anatomy, just a month into his new show.

The “uncensored” show, which began streaming live five days a week on Sandilands’ own paywalled platform from August 10, exists outside the scope of traditional regulators, allowing content which some would consider sexist and racist to go to air.

Kyle Sandilands Live launched last month, six months after Sandilands lost his job at KIIS FM over an on-air rant at his co-host, Jackie “O” Henderson, that made her cry and declare she could not work with him any more.

As his 25-year career on commercial radio came to an end, the Australian Communications and Media Authority handed new broadcasting conditions to KIIS after repeated breaches of industry codes over its crass content.

But since striking out alone in a medium that has no decency regulators, Sandilands has turned up the dial on vulgar content as he fights for attention on an internet already sodden with controversial and sexualised material.

His move to internet broadcasting comes amid a debate about whether online algorithms are driving social media users towards material that denigrates women, including from manosphere influencers such as Andrew Tate.

Last Friday, one of Sandilands’ employees called in from Greece to discuss having sex with a woman in a nightclub toilet, referring to her using the racial slur “blackie”.

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The comment received no rebuke from Sandilands, his producers or other staff, all of whom have access to microphones during broadcasts.

“You mean you had sexual relations with a lovely black woman, together, in the toilet?” Sandilands followed up. “She would have been thrilled with that,” he added, before the staff member responded: “She didn’t mind it.”

The staff member, who does social media for Kyle Sandilands Live as well as appearing on regular live streams, was video calling from Greece at 2.30am Greek time in a drunken state alongside another man, who he said had joined him for the events in the toilet.

Sandilands described the events using a vulgar term for group sex and asked which celebrity of colour the woman resembled.

Eventually, the show’s executive producer, Jamiee Blazquez, reminded the three men, Sandilands included, to be respectful when talking about a woman. “So the girl that let you both f— her, be as respectful as possible,” Sandilands then joked, continuing to focus on the woman’s skin colour by asking if she looked like a “hip hop dancer”.

Just minutes earlier, during a call-in from an adult-shop owner in Townsville, Sandilands said he enjoyed watching women using sex toys and then asked female employees on the show about their vaginas. During his mainstream broadcast era, Sandilands had been disciplined by the regulator for similar comments about his staff members.

A week earlier, Sandilands criticised the show’s newsreader and head of gossip, Mary Madigan, over a celebrity news segment focused on comedian Dave Hughes.

Sandilands said the show’s executive producer should have told Madigan not to present a segment on “no f–ing dumb Aussies that no one cares about”.

After fellow newsreader Brooklyn Ross tried to move the segment along, Madigan was shown on camera tearing up.

She was contacted for comment. A spokesman for Sandilands and the program declined to comment.

University of Technology Sydney journalism professor Monica Attard said the media authority had failed to rein Sandilands in, suggesting there was little to be done about his crass behaviour now that he was broadcasting solely to fans online.

“It would be extremely hard to regulate the podcasting world, and if anyone would attempt to do so there would be howls of concern and outrage on the impact that would have on freedom of speech,” said Attard, who is also on the board of Media Diversity Australia.

“But we do need to start thinking about a code of practice of the type that applies to conventional news and current affairs programs.”

During his court case against KIIS’s owner, ARN, Sandilands’ lawyers told the Federal Court that conflict with his then co-host Henderson was part of what the company paid him to deliver.

ARN and Sandilands settled the litigation, delivering a $12 million payout to the broadcaster and more than $1 million in free advertising for his new show on the company’s channels. It is also entitled to 19.9 per cent of Sandilands’ revenue from the show, but has no editorial control.

ARN was contacted for comment.

University of Sydney media professor Catharine Lumby said the remarks aired on Sandilands’ show were “completely inappropriate and outrageous”.

“We live in an era where media law regulation is irrelevant … it’s the Wild West,” she said.

Sandilands often shouts at staff, smokes while broadcasting in the studio and jokes about the physical appearance of his staff. But most of the show’s staff followed him from KIIS FM and were staffers on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, which he has previously used to defend his actions as an employer and colleague.

Most of the livestreams from Sandilands’ new web program show the cast getting along well. The livestream also has a live chat for viewers, which is regularly filled with crass and offensive remarks about staff on the show.

The show is unlike anything else in Australia’s media landscape. At KIIS FM, The Kyle and Jackie O Show eventually required several censors to ensure Sandilands did not overstep the line during live broadcasts. As it was broadcast on licensed radio channels, there were much tighter restrictions on what kind of content could go to air.

The show also attracted the ire of activist group Mad F—ing Witches, which lobbied advertisers against placing commercials on it, costing ARN tens of millions in revenue.

But now, Sandilands can effectively broadcast whatever he wants. The new show is not constrained by broadcast codes, the media authority confirmed.

It is not subject to the will of advertisers either because it is funded by $99 annual subscriptions taken out by fans.

Last month, documents filed in the Federal Court showed Henderson’s doctors concluded she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement