A PR guru does not believe Nine’s Alex Cullen has done permanent damage to his career by making the ill-advised choice of taking a $50,000 gift from controversial businessman Adrian Portelli.
Fans are also showing their support to Today Show regular Cullen, 44, who was given the whopping sum by Mr Portelli for using a variation of his self-conferred nickname ‘McLaren Man’ on air rather than the flashy entrepreneur’s normal tag ‘Lambo Guy’.
In a bid to ditch the old moniker, Mr Portelli offered a $50,000 cash reward to the first member of the TVmedia to use his new nickname, and when Cullen did so, he posted what appeared to be a bank transfer of the sum to the Nine sports presenter.
Nine promptly responded by suspending Cullen, who has not appeared on air since. They also announced an investigation into the payment, which they said was being returned.
Max Markson, who has been a leading PR agent for 50 years, said although it was ‘not normal’ behaviour for a presenter to accept cash to say something that was not part of their declared sponsorships he believed Cullen had clearly been joking.
Markson pointed out Today Show host Karl Stefanovic was very much in on the gag, smirking that Cullen had got it correct by saying ‘McClaren Guy’ and that he might split the $50,000 with him.
‘I am sure they didn’t think they were going to get the $50,000 but then they got it and unfortunately Alex has been stood down for the moment, which is crazy,’ Markson told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
‘He shouldn’t have taken the $50,000 obviously, but he’s given it back. I don’t think that’s the reason they did it, they did it as a joke, obviously.
Nine’s Alex Cullen is receiving plenty of support from fans after being suspended from being on air

Adrian Portelli now wants to go by the name of ‘Mr McLaren’
Markson suggested that Cullen might have been a victim of unfortunate timing.
‘It happened on Friday and he (Cullen) probably got the money late on Friday night,’ Markson said.
‘If he knew it was going to come he probably would have given it away to charity. I would not have thought he would have pocketed the money.’
Nine insiders told Daily Mail Australia that the stunt could have been beneficial for the network and Portelli, if Cullen had advised the promoter that, as a journalist, he was unable to accept any payment for making the comment on-air.
‘What Alex should have done is refuse to accept any money and told Portelli to donate it directly to a charity instead – that’s if he was going to get involved in the stunt at all,’ one network insider told Daily Mail Australia.

Legendary publicist Max Markson (pictured left with US actor Charlie Sheen) said cullen was clearly joking and did expect to receive the payment
However, Mr Markson did not think it would do Cullen’s TV career any lasting damage.
‘Alex will get back on air within a week’s time, within days I would have thought,’ Mr Markson said.
‘It’s not a major issue, it was a joke. It wasn’t just him, it was Stefanovic as well obviously just having a joke.’
Mr Markson said Mr Portelli, who was called ‘Mr Lambo’ in 2022 after turning up in a yellow Lamborghini to bid for houses renovated on Nine show The Block, got great coverage for this latest stunt including a Sydney newspaper front page.
‘I think he’s got a great publicist, it’s not me, but he has a great publicist,’ Mr Markson said. ‘I know him.’
Although Mr Markson thought Mr Portelli was genuinely fed up with his Lambo nickname he had found a great angle to get more publicity from it.
‘When you are on a roll when you’ve got the coverage you just keep marketing it, keep pushing it,’ he said.

Cullen’s last post on Instagram is a selfie of him giving a thumb’s up outside the Melbourne Rod Laver Arena
Meanwhile, Cullen is receiving plenty of fan support on social media.
Cullen’s last post on Instagram is a selfie of him giving a thumb’s up outside the Melbourne Rod Laver Arena where the Australian Open is being held with the simple caption ‘let’s go’.
‘You’re the best presenter, and that show will be nothing without you,’ reads the first comment.
‘Such a humble, lovely personality for morning TV. So sorry, mate, hope you’re ok x.’
‘I feel so sorry for you,’ another person writes.
‘Just for record, I won’t be watching Chanel 9 anymore. I hope something better comes of this for you, you’re amazing, what a load BS by Channel 9.’
‘No way,’ another states.
‘I cannot believe they have stood you down. I actually really love your injection into the show, you’ve been a breath of fresh air. If they fire you, I will most certainly be voting with my feet.’
Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands also jumped to Cullen’s defence and said he didn’t understand why anyone ‘cared’ about the payment.
‘He’s a very good presenter, this Alex guy. He makes a quick $50,000 on that, does anyone care about that?
‘I don’t like the whole vibe of it,’ Kyle added of the backlash to Cullen’s stunt.

Portelli had grown tired of his long-used nickname ‘Mr Lambo’ and offered a reward to the first media personality to use his new moniker, with Cullen obliging on the Today Show (pictured)

It then emerged that Channel Nine was looking into the payment and Cullen agreed to step down after the ill-advised on-air stunt (pictured: Adrian Portelli)
Meanwhile, Mr Portelli has since come under fire for urging his fans to bombard female journalist Fiona Byrne online after she revealed Nine was investigating Cullen over the cash for comment scandal.
Thousands of cyberbullies flooded her social media with vile and misogynistic slurs after Mr Portelli urged his 461,000 Instagram followers to ‘bully’ Byrne, even offering a cash prize for the best takedown.
‘Come on Fiona. You can do better than that,’ he posted on Instagram.
‘Be respectful and use my real name or I’ll come up with a nickname for you and blast it all over my socials.’
Mr Portelli then called on his followers to suggest appropriate nicknames for Byrne before encouraging fans to ‘bully’ her online.
‘If journos wanna bully, let’s bully back,’ he wrote before tagging her personal account and offering the prize money.
‘$5,000 best comment on [Ms Byrne’s] profile.’
The Rich Lister’s call-to-arms saw the award-winning journalist’s account inundated with inappropriate and false remarks about her appearance and professionalism.
Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to repeat any of the comments.
Mr Portelli later issued what appeared to be a further veiled threat to unleash his army of followers on any journalist who dared to ‘disrespect’ him – or refer to him by his unofficial nickname, ‘Lambo Guy’.
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