Karl Stefanovic has expressed fury over ‘sick’ and ‘awful’ chatroom messages by students from one of Australia’s most elite private schools, labelling them as as one of the most disgusting and despicable things he’s ever seen.
Students at Knox Grammar, a private boys school in Sydney’s Upper North Shore used an encrypted app to share ‘racist, misogynistic and homophobic’ content they thought would never be unearthed.
The school launched an internal investigation and expelled several students before the revolting messages were exposed and referred to NSW Police.
A disgusted Stefanovic weighed into the controversy on Thursday as he called out the boys’ shocking behaviour and response by the school, adding he would be taking his sons out of Knox Grammar if he had boys there.
‘I think this is deplorable. The school should be run over the coals,’ the Today show host began his rant.
Knox Grammar School has come under fire after shocking chatroom messages from students were publicly exposed
‘If I’m a parent at the school, I’m pulling my kid out.
‘I think this is one of the most disgusting and despicable things I have seen.
The father of-four acknowledged boys will be boys but believes what happened at Knox Grammar went ‘way too far’.
Stefanovic believes the school would have done very little had the the messages not been exposed and splashed on the front page of a Sydney newspaper.
Parents pay up to $35,000 a year for their sons to attend the prestigious school.
‘They need to be absolutely pulled over the coals, these kids,’ Stefanovic continued.
‘This school has form. This is the thing we need to eliminate.
‘How do we expect these boys grow up and respect women when they are circulating this sort of rubbish around themselves.’
Today show’s Karl Stefanovic (pictured with co-host Allison Landgon) described the chatroom controversy as one of the disgusting and despicable things he’s ever seen
‘And they take that into the workforce and the culture continues. I mean, it needs to be eliminated and eliminated now.’
‘It’s just disgusting what we read this morning. It makes you sick!’
Today show co-host Allison Langdon was also disgusted.
‘Some of this stuff is downright revolting,’ she said.
‘I think sometimes it can be dismissed as boys will be boys but what was read and what was posted on this site was so offensive it takes it to a whole new level.’
It comes a day after ‘deeply disturbing’ messages from a secret chat room made by students were exposed.
Users in the chat room, hosted by the messaging service Discord, sent the vile messages using aliases like ‘n*****removalservice’ and ‘Fa**othater3000’.
‘I hate fems I hate gays, jews, people who don’t play fortnite, furries, n*****s, I love titties, feet abortion, rape, drugs,’ one of the disturbing messages read.
Teenagers at Knox Grammar, a private boys school in Sydney’s North Shore, used a encrypted app to post ‘racist, misogynistic and homophobic’ content
Karl Stefanovic (pictured) labelled the incident as deplorable and called for the Knox Grammar students and the school to be hauled over the coals
Knox Grammar has suspended several students for their participation in the group dubbed ‘Gang Gang’ and have launched an internal investigation.
A spokesperson from the school told Daily Mail Australia the boys had now been expelled and are ‘trying to settle in at other schools’.
The messages obtained by the Daily Telegraph are a mixture of sexist, racist and anti-Semitic sentiments coupled with several extreme anti-abortion statements.
‘Hitler is always stay in my heart. Heil Hitler,’ one message read.
‘Silly ‘pro choices’ think women’s rights matter … I only hate children and wish for them to die, take them out at the source,’ a second wrote.
‘I’m a maniacal potential pedophile who rapes babies for a living,’ a third said while another asked why they hadn’t been invited to a ‘rape party’.
Knox Grammar has suspended several students for their participation in the group and have launched an internal investigation (pictured, a mock-up of the Discord messages)
Shocking videos of young men appearing to be brutally raped or assaulted were also shared in the group chat, believed to have been formed about two years ago.
One student in the chat said ‘gang gang lore’ would prevent members from snitching with another assuring that teachers didn’t have the authority to ‘search your device for non-school related affairs’.
Psychologist Tim Watson-Munro slammed the content as ‘deeply disturbing’ and said the chat room gave ‘off a feeling of a club or even a cult’.
‘What is very troubling is there appears to be some organisation in the way they communicate,’ ‘he told the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Watson-Munro said there was a danger of an ‘unhinged’ group member acting out some of the sadistic statements in their day-to-day life.
The messages are a mixture of sexist, racist and anti-Semitic sentiments coupled with several extreme anti-abortion statements (pictured, a mock-up of the Discord messages)
In a letter sent home to parents on Wednesday, Knox Headmaster Scott James said the students involved posted ‘inappropriate messages and engaged in offensive commentary in private chat rooms’.
‘The nature of these posts is contrary to the values and culture of Knox and is unacceptable,’ the letter said.
‘The actions of these boys do not reflect a Knox education or the expectations that we place on our students to be respectful and responsible citizens in the community.’
Mr James said there had been a ‘range of consequences’ for the students involved who had been punished according to their participation in the chat room from ‘suspension to students leaving the school’.
In a letter sent home to parents on Wednesday pictured), Knox Headmaster Scott James said the students involved posted ‘inappropriate messages and engaged in offensive commentary in private chat rooms’
‘In regard to the images, some were taken during school activities and later doctored, and the school has spoken to the families of identifiable students.
‘To be very clear, the doctored images do not require mandatory reporting under child protection requirements, and we have discussed the matter with Police.’
Parents were asked to speak to their sons about how they used social media and to remind them to use platforms ‘respectfully’ and ‘sensibly’.
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