Monday, August 03, 2009

I never thought I'd find myself defending Kyle Sandilands but here I am.

I think the media witch hunt which has gone on this last week is beyond pathetic and beyond stupid. No one can deny Kyle is a moron (or at least a very smart operator disguised as a moron). But is he really the main person responsible for this bit of drama? Why is he being set up as the fall guy here? To the best of my knowledge he is not trawling the streets with a gun rounding up people to appear on his show. The participants come on willingly, in this case (I believe) for the incentive of winning concert tickets, at other times simply for the incentive of airing their troubles in public (a la Jerry Springer contestants).

My main question is: why is no-one placing the blame where it needs to be placed, i.e. with the mother of the 14 year old girl at the centre of this storm in a tea cup? Is the mother not the person who brought her child to the studio, knowing that she would be attached to a lie detector machine? I'm not sure whether the mother knew that the girl had been raped or not. That's not the point (mostly). The point is that the mother actively subjected her daughter to this situation in the first place.

I can not imagine thinking that the best way to deal with my teenage child's awful behaviour would be to strap them to a lie detector in a radio studio and have them questioned by a shock jock and his bimbette sidekick.

Furthermore, Kyle does not work in a void. He is part of a team, sure the public face of that team, but a team nevertheless. There would be producers and assorted others responsible for putting the show together. People who would have discussed the format and direction of the show and who would have spoken with the mother and daughter prior to the show going to air.

The fact that it is Kyle who is being hung, drawn and quartered here is really misleading and unfair. If he's going to be sacked from Australian Idol, let's sack him for a sensible reason: he's a shithouse judge. His musical knowledge is about the same as that of the average house fly. His comments are about as useful as a MENSA membership form to Paris Hilton. If he's going to be sacked from his radio program let it be because he's a crap interviewer and his fawning and celebrity arse-licking is enough to make even the strongest stomach queasy. If he's going to be shafted from the upcoming Celebrity MasterChef let it be because no-one in their right mind would want to watch a food program featuring Kyle's sneering mug (even I, who would happily tuck into Chris' half pig's head presented during the recent MC series, would balk at replicating any recipe Kyle presented).

Let's call a spade a spade here and string up the person really responsible for this media storm: the mother. Above all else, it was her job to have her daughter's best interests at heart; her job to protect her daughter and not put her in this situation.

2 comments:

Kath Lockett said...

Actually there have been a *lot* of calls here in Victoria towards the mother.

Whether she's genuinely concerned for her daughter or not, it was Wrong wrong WRONG of her to think that the problem would be addressed by publicly humiliating and distressing her.

However it was also wrong of the radio station to think it was ever going to be appropriate for a 14 year old to be strapped to a lie-detector and asked about her sex life. I'm not denying that there's a helluva lot of 14 year olds who are sexually active out there, but it's not 'entertainment' however it's put, to do it to someone who is technically a minor.

I think also, for a lot of people, that this is really just the final straw for Mr Sandilands and Ms O. Surely there are cleverer and more talented people out there to take their place?

Sarah said...

I entirely agree. I LOATHE Kyle Sandilands and under any other circumstances would be there cheering on the sidelines as he made a disgraced exit. But this whole saga has been farcical...the mother, who KNEW her daughter had been raped, (and it would appear had not pursued the issue privately) agreed to have her daughter strapped up to the lie detector and then asked her about it..Who the F* does that? And the radio station agreed to that line of questioning? even without knowing about the rape?

Sure Kyle response was inappropriate but you could tell the guy was shocked and at a loss for what to say.

This is why i listen to the ABC - I cannot stand those commercial radio teams they really make me sick with their bullshit. Give me music or give me an interesting interview.