Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands has insisted there is no bad blood between him and Abbie Chatfield, despite the reality star recently revealing that she is “baffled” he had yet to be fired for offensive on-air behaviour.
In comments provided to The Daily Telegraph, the 28-year-old Bachelor contestant turned TV and radio host said that Sandilands, 51, should have been out of a job long ago following years of polarising commentary.
“I have no idea how he hasn’t been cancelled”, Chatfield told the publication.
“I don’t know why he’s not at least being reprimanded. I don’t know why advertisers still align.”
In the years since he stepped up as co-host of the Kyle and Jacki O show in 2004, Kyle has found himself no stranger to many a controversy, most recently referring to Monkeypox as “the big gay disease floating around”.
“It’s as baffling to me as it is to everyone else. I don’t know how he can continue,” Chatfield expressed.
The controversial figure also recently copped major flak for his commentary on the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games (held in 2021), branding the event “horrific” before saying that the soccer players were throwing “themselves on the ground like sausages”.
“People go, ‘well that’s just Kyle’. What he wants is for people to call him out, so people are listening to hear what wild thing he will say next. It’s continually disappointing and continually disgusting the things that he says on air,” Chatfield said.
Just days after the interview was published Abbie took to Instagram to explain that the throwaway remark was taken out of context after a long day of interviews.
“I was asked in an interview about my thoughts on Kyle Sandilands’ recent comments using ableist terms. I think it happened the day on the interview or the day before, so it was recent news,” she explained.
“I responded in this tone of voice, like, “Yeah, look, I think it’s bizarre that he hasn’t been really reprimanded.”
“So I answered the question, as you do with interviews. But yeah, there’s now a narrative that I went on an “aggressive rant” about Kyle, which I didn’t.”:
Despite Abbie’s fears that Kyle would react on air the following day, Kyle didn’t seem too worried about the remarks.
“We’ve had her on this show. She’s a nice kid,” he explained, before adding that his only issue was with The Daily Telegraph for dragging Abbie into its crusade to have him cancelled.
Kyle has been open about the fact that he would “never change,” regardless of any negative feedback from listeners.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings,” Sandilands recently said on air.
“I like to make people feel fun, relaxed, happy and safe. (But) I’m never going to change. I’m still not changing (for) the woke world”.
And whilst Sandilands continues to pull in top ratings for KISS 106.5, a shift is in the air, The Kyle and Jackie O Show coming in behind 2GB in October ratings. Big brands are also reportedly reconsidering their advertising agreements with KIIS FM following Kyle’s continual on-air antics.
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