KIIS FM: Kyle Sandilands slams newspaper for urging advertiser boycott

Kyle Sandilands has blasted a Sydney newspaper for ‘manufacturing’ a story about advertisers threatening to pull out of his radio show.

The Daily Telegraph has been pushing an anti-Kyle agenda in recent days, claiming there has been widespread outrage over his use of the word ‘spaz’ last week.

In reality, most listeners of The Kyle and Jackie O Show weren’t offended by the term – which the publication called an ‘ableist’ slur – and only a handful of disability activists on Twitter have complained about it.

After the newspaper upped its attack on Friday by running a story about brands ‘reviewing their contracts’ with KIIS FM, Sandilands unleashed live on air.

He said he was genuinely sorry if any regular listeners were offended by his words, but made it clear the story was a beat-up intended to ‘ruin’ him, adding that the station’s advertisers only spoke out under pressure from The Daily Telegraph.

‘I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I like to make people feel fun, relaxed, happy and safe,’ he said, before adding firmly: ‘I’m never going to change.

‘I’m still not changing [for] the woke world.’

The Daily Telegraph has been pushing an anti-Kyle agenda in recent days, claiming there has been widespread outrage over his use of the word ‘spaz’ last week. In reality, most listeners of The Kyle and Jackie O Show weren’t offended by the term. (Sandilands is seen in April 2018)

The Daily Telegraph had sought comment from blue-chip advertisers Bunnings and Vodafone distancing themselves from Sandilands’ remarks, which were made during an on-air rant about KIIS FM’s publicity team last Thursday.

The majority of Kyle and Jackie O’s major advertisers, including McDonald’s, Coles, Telstra, Uber, Jetstar and Chemist Warehouse, have ignored the story.

Sandilands said the journalist who wrote the article had contacted ‘all the clients and [told] them, “You should leave because Kyle’s a horrible person,” and she has manufactured all of this. And that’s what they do at the paper.’

‘That’s fine. The stuff I’ve got on some of the journalists will be mind-blowing,’ he added, before the in-studio censor bleeped out a few seconds of the live broadcast.

The radio presenter later joked that he welcomes the day he is finally cancelled so he can just ‘stay at home counting money’.

After the publication upped its attack on Friday by running a story about brands ‘reviewing their contracts’ with KIIS FM, Sandilands said he was genuinely sorry if any regular listeners were offended by his words, but made it clear the story was a beat-up intended to ‘ruin’ him

The Daily Telegraph had sought comment from blue-chip advertisers Bunnings and Vodafone distancing themselves from Sandilands’ remarks, which were made during an on-air rant about KIIS FM’s publicity team last Thursday. (Pictured: KIIS FM co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson)

Sandilands’ rebuttal to The Daily Telegraph came during his ‘apology day’ on Friday, which also saw him apologise to his fellow Australian Idol judge Harry Connick Jr. for misquoting him on air about gender pronouns.

He had said on Wednesday that Connick Jr. had insisted during the auditions, ‘Hey, we need to know their pronouns!’ when in fact it was a producer who suggested this.

He acknowledged his mistake after the American actor-singer and his manager complained about him being misrepresented as overly ‘woke’.

Sandilands’ rebuttal to The Daily Telegraph came during his ‘apology day’ on Friday, which also saw him apologise to his fellow Australian Idol judge Harry Connick Jr. (pictured in October 2019) for misquoting him on air about gender pronouns