He’s known for being bold, brash and unapologetic, but radio host Kyle Sandilands has been accused of hitting a “new low” after a segment last week.
Sandilands was talking about monkeypox on his KIIS FM show Kyle and Jackie O on Tuesday when he described the virus as “the big gay disease floating around”.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Kyle Sandilands hits back over ‘offensive’ segment
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“It’s only the gays getting it,” Sandilands said.
“Have you seen the dirty scabs that everyone gets?”
Kyle Sandilands. Credit: SuppliedDuring the segment, Sandilands, 51, also invited a medical expert – known as Dr KIIS – to speak on the virus’ seriousness.
“There is a small fatality rate, yes… Only a small rate, but there is a risk,” the expert told the show.
“Are you just dismissing as it doesn’t matter because they’re gay?” Sandilands asked.
“Definitely not,” the expert replied.
Sandilands’ comments were slammed as “hurtful and deeply unhelpful” by the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations and drew the ire of Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery – who himself came under fire for his reporting of Rebel Wilson’s same-sex relationship.
Jackie and her radio co-host Kyle Sandilands. Credit: Instagram/kyleandjackieoHorney said Sandlands had “deeply offended the marginalised groups” he claimed to have long-championed, with the comments.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Prof Brett Sutton, also weighed into the controversy on Twitter.
“Please remind me – what’s the point of Kyle Sandilands? If you can’t say something constructive, maybe keep quiet?” he wrote.
Audio company ARN management issued a statement on Friday in which they said Sandilands was “renowned for his colourful vernacular”.
“We appreciate that those unaccustomed to his expressions may consider the content opinionated, and the range of topics discussed on the show are not to everyone’s taste,” the statement read.
Sandilands, however, came out swinging against Hornery on Monday morning.
Radio host Kyle Sandilands. Credit: AAP“Did you guys see that the newspaper on the weekend that tried to rubbish me and edited what I said to make out that I was a gay-hater?” Sandilands asked his co-host.
“Andrew Hornery trying to pass the hot tomato… because all the gays hate him, remember because of the Rebel Wilson outing and he’s trying to throw the blame on to me because I dared let all the gays know ‘watch out for the moneypox’.
“I didn’t even say anything bad about the gays,” Sandilands went on. “The gays are getting the monkeypox. It was a warning. No one else is giving the gays the warning.”
Kyle Sandilands talks getting out of jury duty.
Kyle Sandilands talks getting out of jury duty.Newsreader Brooklyn Ross then chimed in to add that the health community had “sad recently that not enough media was reporting on monkeypox being the gay virus”.
“They’re all so woke they didn’t want to offend anyone but hey heads up gays, watch out for this huge disease,” Sandilands added.
Sandilands concluded by calling Hornery a “hater” and a “joke”.
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