Lawrence Mooney made a surprise return to TV screens this week as he prepares for a legal stoush with Triple M over his unceremonious departure from breakfast radio.
The 56-year-old is suing the station’s parent company Southern Cross Austereo for over $1million in unpaid wages, after being dumped from his Moonman in the Morning show on November 15 with more than a year left on his contract.
While he did not discuss his ongoing legal matter, Mooney did return to screens as a commentator on Monday’s Today Extra to share his opinion on the leaked texts scandal that has rocked parliament in recent weeks.
Return: Lawrence Mooney made a surprise return to TV screens this week as he prepares for a legal stoush with Triple M over his unceremonious departure from breakfast radio
After being introduced by David Campbell and Sylvia Jeffreys, Mooney raised his hands in the air as he cheered: ‘It’s great to be back.’
He then offered his opinion on the texting scandal, which has seen Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce issue a grovelling apology to Prime Minister Scott Morrison after calling him a ‘hypocrite and a liar’ in a leaked message.
Joyce’s apology came days after it was alleged former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had described the PM as a ‘horrible, horrible person’ in texts, while an unnamed Liberal minister also branded him a ‘complete psycho’.
‘It is very interesting that everyone is lining up to say, “I didn’t call him a complete psycho,”‘ Mooney said on Monday’s show.
Commentator: After being introduced by Today Extra hosts David Campbell (left) and Sylvia Jeffreys (centre), Mooney raised his hands in the air as he cheered: ‘It’s great to be back’
‘This has got more twists and turns than a Winter Olympic snowboarder, but not as clean a landing as our bronze medallist in Beijing.
‘It’s incredible that all of a sudden everyone is leaking these texts – the question is, are they going to behead the Prime Minister before the election and try somebody else? He’s got a lot of enemies in his camp.’
The next question Mooney was asked regarded social media use among colleagues.
Campbell read out a statistic which claimed 42 per cent of people have rejected colleagues’ request to connect online.
When asked for his advice, Mooney bluntly said: ‘Do not add a colleague on social media.
‘There’s always a chance that something is going to slip up from your private life or your personal life to that little cohort of followers that you’ve got, and you don’t want it to go public and be spread around your workplace.’
Gone: The comedian joined Triple M Sydney in 2019 to host the Moonman in the Morning program with co-anchors Jess Eva (left) and Chris Page (right)
He then laughed: ‘There’s always something lying around in the background in those selfies – be very careful and check once, check twice.’
Mooney didn’t mention a word about his exit from Moonman in the Morning during his brief TV appearance.
The comedian joined Triple M Sydney in 2019 to host the Moonman in the Morning breakfast program with co-anchors Jess Eva and Chris Page.
Exit: Mooney was dumped from his coveted breakfast radio gig in November, and is suing the station’s parent company Southern Cross Austereo for more than $1million unpaid wages
But he was abruptly axed less than a year into a new two-year contract on November 15, with little explanation after a wild few days of speculation.
Mooney’s exit came two weeks after he suddenly vanished from the airwaves amid rumours of a major falling out with co-host Eva.
‘SCA thanks Mooney for his contribution to the Triple M Network over the past five years,’ SCA said in a terse statement at the time.
The program later changed its name to Triple M Breakfast with MG, Jess & Pagey, with new lead host Mark ‘MG’ Geyer.
When contacted by Daily Mail Australia on the day of his sacking, Mooney said, ‘Please don’t call again,’ then hung up the phone.
Silent: When contacted by Daily Mail Australia on the day of his sacking, Mooney said, ‘Please don’t call again,’ then hung up the phone
Court documents state Mooney had a two-year contract to run from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022, and his pay was a base fee of $1million plus GST per annum, which is $83,333 plus GST a month.
Mooney was also eligible to bonus fees of up to $540,000 plus GST annually if the show got an audience share in the radio ratings of six percentage points or above, or was number one in the male 25-54 category.
Mooney took Southern Cross Austereo to the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday, February 4, where lawyers representing both sides made a brief appearance.
Employment specialist John Laxon, representing Mooney, described the case as a ‘very straightforward breach of contract claim’.
Change: The program later changed its name to Triple M Breakfast with MG, Jess & Pagey, with new lead host Mark ‘MG’ Geyer. Pictured: the old Moonman in the Morning logo
Both sides had agreed to enter mediation but Mr Laxon said Southern Cross Austereo had been 44 days late filing a defence.
‘We are somewhat in the dark because we don’t have their defence,’ Mr Laxon said.
‘In anticipation of what that defence might be and the allegations that might be forthcoming from the defendant [in the absence of] any evidence to back up those allegations then what we might be left with is smear.’
Mr Laxon has previously said he was waiting with ‘bated breath’ for Southern Cross Austereo’s defence, which was due by December 20.
In the last radio ratings survey of 2021 Mooney’s show had an audience share of 4.6.
There were eight surveys in 2021 and in two of them the program recorded an audience share above six – 6.4 in the first survey of the year and 6.7 in the second.
The court documents claim SCA chief executive Grant Blackley advised Mooney in a letter dated November 12, 2021, that the company would only pay Mooney’s base salary up to and including that day.
‘At no time during the term of the contract did Mooney commit any act that would entitle SCA to terminate and/or that could be relied upon by SCA as at the date of the purported termination to terminate,’ Mooney’s lawyers claimed.
The documents also claimed there was ‘loss of goodwill by reason of Mooney no longer providing the on-air radio performing and announcing services’.
Mystery: Listeners had been puzzled by Mooney’s disappearing act for the two weeks before his formal exit
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